


Little Bird

by KC_95



Series: Bad Influence [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Humor, Slow Burn, Steve Rogers is a mischievous little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 17:53:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15611742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KC_95/pseuds/KC_95
Summary: The first time you broke into Avengers Tower, it was just to rob Tony Stark of a lot of money and donate it to charity. You never expected to wind up face to face with Captain Steve Rogers. You certainly never expected Steve to become your ally in what became a game of 'how many times can we break into Avengers Tower before we get caught?' But then again, everyone needs a hobby.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Two things you need to know:
> 
> 1\. I don't really know where this sits in the timeline, but somewhere after Age of Ultron and we're just gonna pretend Civil War never happened.
> 
> 2\. Reader in this story is using female pronouns, but if you wanna pretend those are male pronouns or whatever, go for it!

The first time you broke into Avengers Tower, it was simply another heist.

You stood outside the tower, lined up amongst a crowd of the rich and famous. Usually, you’d only be near these people if you were about to rob them, but this was different. The target tonight was Tony Stark, and that changed a lot of things.

You leant down to fix the skirt of your midnight blue cocktail dress and checked your forged invitation for the fourth time. It would be fine - the worst that could happen at this point would be the guards writing you off as a crazy Avengers fan. You certainly wouldn't be the first to try and get into one of Tony Stark's infamous parties uninvited. 

When you reached the front of the line, you handed the invitation over with a smile. A moment later, you were walking through the front door of Avengers Tower. 

You took a moment to scout your surroundings before making your way through the crowd to the elevator. You had chosen your dress for this purpose - it was plain enough that you wouldn’t be noticed in the crowd, but not so plain that you would look out of place. 

You waited for the elevator doors to close behind you before you pressed the button for level seventeen. Once you started moving, you pulled your phone and chord out of your clutch and pressed the Avengers logo underneath the buttons, revealing a pop out security panel. You plugged your phone in and, with a few taps, started running the hacking program that you’d spent the last three weeks writing. 

You could feel your heart beat through your chest. The success of this program was vital to your plan. If it worked, you were in. If not, you wouldn’t even be able to step of the elevator without setting off the alarms. The elevator slowed and, as you arrived at the required level, your phone buzzed, showing the program’s success. You let out a sigh of relief and unplugged your device before stepping out onto the office level.

Hours of studying the blueprints of the tower paid off now, as you made your way swiftly through the corridors. You stopped once to take down more security systems before you continued, and eventually found yourself in Tony Stark’s office.

You sat down at his computer without hesitation, and started gong through the internet history until you found his bank account details. You smiled. No one expected a hacking attempt to come from their own computer, which is why you would so often find bank account details saved in people’s history. Not the password, but enough for you to at least find the bank and the account number. Now it was only the password that you needed to hack.

Fifteen minutes later, you had routed the money through several different accounts and were on your way back to the elevator, re-setting the security systems as you went.

Once in the elevator, you leant back against the wall. Job done, and not a single problem.

That’s when the elevator started slowing at level ten. The residential level. You heart rate picked up again. Several of Earth’s mightiest superheroes currently lived in the tower, and any one of them could be about to join you in the elevator. You bit your lip, waiting to see who would be determining your fate.

The doors slid open to reveal Captain Steve Rogers. There were two things that you noticed instantly. Firstly, Captain America was much bigger in person. Like, bigger. That shouldn’t be surprising, considering his body was literally perfected by science, but it kind of was. Secondly, you were royally screwed. Maybe if you got Black Widow or Hawkeye, you could convince them to keep any information they uncovered to themselves, but Captain America? If he found out who you were, there would be no going back.

Still, may as well go out with a bang. “Captain,” you greeted, “Why aren’t you at the party?”

“Why aren’t you?” he responded, stepping through the doors, “I didn’t think guests could get into the elevator.”

You shrugged. “We can get in, we just can’t get out on any of the floors we’re not authorised for. Which is, well, all of them.”

“So why are you here then?”

You could tell him that you just wanted some space from the party. That would be the smart thing to do. Telling Steve Rogers the truth right now was the definition of bad idea. But this was going to be too much fun to resist.

You grinned. “I thought I’d take down all of your security systems and get into Mister Stark’s office so that I could rob him.”

“And how much would you get away with in this scenario?” he asked with a smile.

“Fifteen million,” you replied.

Steve chuckled. “I almost wish you weren’t joking right now so that I could see the look on Tony’s face.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little, and the two of you were soon giggling like children.

“I’m Steve,” he said, offering his hand.

“Robin,” you replied, placing your hand in his. There was no way that you could give him your real name now. He’d already seen your face, and that was bad enough.

The elevator doors opened, and he looked at you with an apologetic smile. “I have to go rub shoulders with rich people now, but it was nice talking to you.”

“You too.” 

Steve was swept away in the crowd, and you made your way back out the front door. You had fifteen million dollars to donate to charity before Tony Stark found it missing.

* * *

Steve nearly choked on his coffee. “You were robbed?”

The Avengers - well, the ones who were currently in the tower - sat around the meeting table. Steve sat at his usual seat between Sam and Bucky. Across the table Bruce sat next to Nat, with Clint on her other side. Tony stood at the head of the table, a woman in a suit stood next to him. (Wanda and Vision had left on a mission together two weeks ago. Steve was pretty sure they’d completed the mission three days in, but they did deserve some time off, and it was clear there was something going on there, so no one really questioned it.)

“Yes, Steve,” Tony replied. “I was robbed. Which is why I have called you all here to meet Agent Nilson,” Tony gestured to the woman on his left, “From the FBI.”

“Really, Tony? Thought you’d be a do it yourself kind of guy,” Natasha spoke.

“This is bigger than me. Agent, would you like to take over?”

“Certainly. We believe that Tony is a victim of a high profile thief we call the Robin.”

This time Steve actually did choke on his coffee.

“You got hit by Robin?” Clint laughed. “That’s awesome!”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “You know this thief?”

Clint shrugged. “I read the news sometimes. And they named the guy after Robin Hood, how could I not be curious?”

“I’m sorry,” Steve interrupted. “You were robbed by Robin Hood?”

“Robin hits rich people, millionaires and billionaires,” Agent Nilson explained, “And then donates the money to charity. We’ve never been able to trace it, but a week later, he sends an email explaining where the money he stole went.”

“Huh,” Natasha spoke. “Sounds kind of cool.”

“Right?” Clint agreed.

Nilson stared at them. “I’ve been on the trail of this guy for four years. So far he’s stolen a total of 14.2 billion dollars.”

“Fourteen billion?” Steve repeated. “How much did,” he hesitated, “He… get from you?” Steve had a feeling he already knew he answer.

“Fifteen million,” Tony replied. By this point, it wasn’t really surprising. It was clear that the woman he’d spoken to last night actually did rob Tony Stark, and he’d written it off as a joke. Apparently she wasn’t keeping the money though, so that was something.

“Don’t you have a lot more than that in your account?” Bruce asked.

“It’s how Robin works,” Agent Nilson spoke. “He only takes a percentage of what’s in the account. Even rounds it down to the nearest million.” She fixed her hair before she continued. “So, we won’t know for certain if this is Robin's work until Mr. Stark gets the email, but in the meantime, I’d like to know if any of you saw anything. So far we have nothing on this guy, so anything you might have noticed last night would be helpful.”

“Hang on,” Nat interrupted. “If you know nothing, then how do you know he’s male?”

“We… don’t,” Nilson admitted.

“Might wanna look into that,” Natasha spoke. “But I didn’t see anything.”

“Neither did I,” Bruce added.

Tony turned to the next member. “Clint?” 

He shook his head. 

“Sam? Bucky?” 

Both shook their heads.

“Steve?”

The words slipped out of his lips before he knew he was saying them. “Sorry, Tony. I can’t help either.”


	2. Chapter 2

The second time you broke into Avengers Tower, it had been more for fun.

You had made a lot of millionaires and billionaires mad at you through your career as ‘Robin’, but you had never had someone react like this. Those other rich idiots were mad because you took their money and gave it to people that actually needed it. Tony Stark was mad because someone had gotten past the security systems that he had designed himself. 

For that reason, you thought it would be quite a lot of fun if you did it again.

You also wanted to pay Steve Rogers a visit. Despite basically telling him who you were, you hadn't seen any descriptions or character sketches of you anywhere. The only conclusion you could come to was that Captain America had decided against turning you in. The realisation had left you both grateful and curious.

Which is why, a week after the initial break in, you had climbed the side of Avengers Tower and broken into Steve Rogers' quarters. 

After picking the lock on the window, you slid it up and dropped into Steve’s suite. You had to admit, it was nice. Small, but definitely nice. It consisted of a large bed with a dresser, a small lounge area with a couch, coffee table and TV, and a kitchenette on the wall by the door. Another door led to what you knew from studying blueprints to be the bathroom.

You sat yourself on the couch, which turned out to be rather comfortable, and pulled out your phone to start hacking into Stark’s wifi.

You were nearly done when the door opened and Steve stepped through. You waved lazily at him, looking up only briefly to see that his jaw had dropped. He swiftly slammed the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m hacking the wifi password so that I can send Mr. Stark a thank you email,” you replied without looking up from your phone. 

He hesitated for a moment. “Can’t you do that with your own wifi?”

“Well, usually I route the email through seventeen different IP addresses so that I can’t be tracked, but in this case, I’m fairly certain that Stark’s going to trace it himself. And it’s going to be hilarious when he realises that I got in here again.” You grinned, finally looking up at Steve.

“Okay, I’ll admit that’s not entirely untrue, but it doesn’t explain why you’re doing it in my room. How did you even get in here?”

You turned back to your hacking. “Window,” you replied, using your thumb to point behind you. “Picked the lock.”

“You what? How did you even get to my window?”

“I climbed.”

“We’re on the tenth floor.”

“Yeah, I know. I climbed all ten of them,” you grinned. “Saves me from going to the gym.”

You glanced up to see Steve gently shaking his head, eyebrows raised. “Okay, but why?”

You put your phone down. “A week ago, I broke into this building, stole fifteen million dollars, and told you about it. I figured that once you realised I wasn’t joking, you would report it to the authorities like the law abiding citizen everybody thinks you are. And yet, I woke up the next day, and there was no information about me anywhere. The only conclusion I could come to is that you didn’t tell anyone.”

Steve shrugged and moved to lean against the kitchen bench, facing you. “I fight. It’s what I’m good at. If aliens swoop down and try to destroy the planet, I can help. Someone tries to blow something up? I can stop it from happening. But between the huge battles there’s other problems. There’s world hunger and global warming and homelessness and so much other stuff…” he shrugged. “I can’t do anything about any of those things. But apparently, that’s exactly what you do. So I thought maybe I could do my part by staying quiet.”

You stayed silent a moment. You'd wondered at Steve's reasons for letting you go, of course, but the idea that maybe he believed in your mission had never really occurred to you. “Well,” you said softly, “Thank you.”

“I wanna make something clear, though,” Steve stood taller. “If I ever find out that you’ve hurt someone, or kept the money for yourself, I will turn you in.”

“Fine by me,” you replied, picking up your phone. “I have no intention of doing either of those things.” You hit the send button then stood up. “Gotta go, I give it sixty seconds before Stark realises I’m in the building.”

With a quick wave, you scurried out of the window and into the cool night air.

* * *

Steve couldn’t help his smile when he was summoned to Tony’s office thirty minutes after Robin had left. 

“Everything okay?” he asked from the doorway.

“I got the email,” Tony replied, spinning his chair in cemicircles. “And I traced the IP address. That email was sent from within this building.”

“So we’ve been broken into again?”

Tony nodded. “But the thing is, I can’t even be mad. Look at this,” he gestured to the computer screen.

Steve crossed the room to read the email, and found a new respect for this woman forming as he did. “So your money is going towards helping the homeless find jobs, helping war veterans get back on their feet once they’re home and…” he paused to read the next paragraph, “Rebuilding homes the Avengers have destroyed and treating people caught in our battles for PTSD? That’s actually…”

“Really well thought out, don’t you think?” Tony asked.

“Well, yeah,” Steve stood up, running a hand through his hair. “So what now? You just gonna let it go?”

“Not quite,” Tony spoke. “Clearly, we have a security issue in this tower. The plan was to use the same systems at the new Compound but I think maybe we’re going to need a few upgrades.”

“That’s probably not a bad idea.”

“Right, so how would you feel about making our friend here an offer?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and comments! I greatly appreciate it and hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it.


	3. Chapter 3

The third time you broke into Avengers Tower, it had been a challenge.

Tony had gone public about the incident the week before, revealing that the tower had undergone major security upgrades. At the same time, he announced that anyone who managed to break through the system undetected would receive one million dollars for the charity of their choice.

Several had tried, none of them had gotten past the first floor. But then again, none of them knew Steve Rogers.

Instead of trying to break in on the ground floor, you once again climbed your way up to level ten, and started picking the lock on Steve’s window. Once you’d succeeded, you lifted the window up and dropped through into Steve’s quarters.

You heard a chuckle, and turned to see Steve lying sideways on the bed, his head propped up on his arm. “I figured you’d be back.”

You shrugged. “I can’t seem to turn down a challenge.” You headed for his door, where one of the security panels for this wing was located. You connected your phone and launched your brand new hacking program. Once it started, you sat on the floor next to the panel and turned back to Steve, who was now tapping a device on his bed.

“Captain,” you spoke with a smile. “Is that an iPad?”

“Steve,” he replied. “And don’t tell Tony. He’ll have a fit if he finds out I prefer Apple devices to Stark tech. They’re just so much more user friendly, you know?”

Your mouth dropped open a little. “I just assumed, considering you come straight out of the forties, that modern technology might be a bit much for you. Really, where did you even get an iPad?”

Steve turned away from his device and grinned. “I went on an epic quest through the streets of New York to arrive at a magical building called the Apple Store, where I proved my worth through a series of tests and was rewarded with one of these mystical devices.”

You laughed, and mentally added sarcasm to the constantly growing list of things you never expected from Steve Rogers. “You can do a lot more with Stark tech, though,” you replied.

“Yeah, like what?”

You held up your phone. “Like hack into your security systems.”

“You hack Tony with his own tech?” Steve laughed. “That’s priceless. You know,” he sat up on the bed so that he could see you properly, “He actually has security guards walking around on the office level. You’re going to need a miracle to get through there undetected.”

“Why Captain,” your phone buzzed, and you moved to unplug it, “Could it be that you don’t want me to get caught?”

“I’m going to get into an awful lot of trouble if anyone finds out that I let you go on multiple occasions, so I’d really rather you didn’t.”

“Then why not just bring me in now? Save yourself the trouble.”

Steve smiled, but it wasn’t the normal smile that you’d come to expect from him. No, this was an honest to God smirk that you never thought you’d see grace Captain America’s lips. “Because watching you screw with Tony is the most fun I’ve had since before the war.”

“Well in that case, I’ll have to be careful,” you grinned.

You packed up the phone and sneaked through the door. You turned off various security measures as you made your way to the office level. Once you arrived you found that Steve wasn’t wrong - there were a bunch of guards walking around. That made it harder to move around undetected, but it wasn’t a problem. This was hardly your first time dealing with security guards.

It just made for slower movement. Sticking to the shadows, waiting for guards to pass by, or sneaking past when they had their backs turned. Eventually, you made your way into an office three doors down from Tony’s. The man was too smart not to have security guards posted at his door, so you had to change plans slightly. Instead of walking through his door, you made your way into the ventilation system and crawled the rest of the way to Tony’s office.

You dropped inside, and started searching the office for a notepad and pen. Once you had them, you scribbled your note, and you were soon sneaking your way back through the corridors to Steve’s quarters. He checked his watch when you walked through the door.

“Forty minutes,” he spoke. “I was starting to think you’d been caught.”

“Hardly,” you returned to the security panel in order to turn the security systems back on. “Just takes longer when you have to sneak past guards as well.”

Steve gazed over you. “You are,” he hesitated. “I’m not sure if talented is the right word, but you’re definitely something.”

“I suppose I’ll take it as a complement.”

Steve scooted to the edge of his bed, legs dangling over the end. “Why do you do this?” he asked.

“Turn the security back on?”

“No. Risk your freedom to donate someone else’s money to charity.”

You shrugged. “9-5 work got boring. And I think it’s ridiculous that so much money goes to people who already have it and so little goes to those who actually need it.”

Steve regarded you thoughtfully. “But aren’t you worried about getting caught? From some perspectives what you do might not necessarily be wrong, but from the perspective of the law..”

“I get caught, I’ll see the inside of a prison cell. But Captain,” you met his eyes, “Do you really think a prison could hold me?”

Steve laughed.

Your phone buzzed, and you started packing up. “You do realise that if you let me out of this window, you are effectively an accomplice? You could get into a lot of trouble for this.”

“Well, not on this particular occasion, considering Tony practically asked you to break in. But even so,” Steve smirked. “Do you really think a prison could hold me?”

You grinned. “I like you, Steve Rogers. You are not nearly as stuck up as I thought you’d be.”

His brows furrowed. “Thanks. I think.”

You crossed the room to his window and lifted it. “And I appreciate the help. If I ever get caught, no one will hear your name from my lips.”

Steve smiled. “Stay out of sight, little bird.”

“Always.”

* * *

Steve woke with a smile the next morning. He knew exactly what he was going to find when he got to the common areas, and he couldn’t help but find it at least a little entertaining. Plus, there was something exhilarating about knowing so much more than Tony. 

When he arrived at the communal kitchen, he found Tony sitting at the bench, turning over a note in his hands. Clint was next to him, chuckling, while Bruce was glancing over what appeared to be blueprints on a StarkPad.

“Something wrong, Tony?” Steve asked, reminding himself not to smile.

Clint grinned. “A little birdy visited Tony last night.”

“Yes, Clint, it’s very funny,” Tony sighed. “I thought we actually had him.” He held the note out to Steve. “This was written in my office, on my notepaper. And do you know how he got into the office?”

“Turned invisible and sneaked past the guards?” Steve suggested. He picked up the note and read; _You choose the charity this time - R._

Tony paled. “You don’t think he can actually…”

Steve shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we’ve seen.”

“What if there’s a more logical explanation?” Bruce asked. “Assuming that this thief is not super-powered, what are the possible entrances to your office? Door’s out, because you had guards, you alarmed the window, so we would have known if it was open. What’s left?”

Clint looked over at Tony. “Air vents.”

“No way,” Tony looked at the blueprints. “That’s actually plausible. He could have gotten in through an unalarmed window to another office and… Damn.” Tony sat back in his seat. “Guess I’m going to spend my day setting up a lot of alarms.”


	4. Chapter 4

You had never intended to break into Avengers Tower again. You really hadn’t. But you had never expected to see Steve Rogers again either.

Really, it was ridiculous. Coincidences like this only ever happened in movies. Yet here he was, strolling into the cafe where you worked. He walked past where you were cleaning tables to your manager, Liz, and casually ordered a coffee. Liz, to her credit, was incredibly cool about the whole thing.

You probably should have just let him leave without knowing you where there. The less he knew about you the better. But then again, he clearly had no intention of turning you in, and this was much more fun. You threw your towel over your shoulder and walked past Steve, who was now waiting for his coffee. “Captain,” you greeted.

He turned to you swiftly. “You.”

You raised your eyebrows at him.

“You work here?” 

“Some of us need to make a living, Captain.”

“It’s Steve,” he responded automatically.

You hesitated a moment before you offered your hand. “Y/N.”

Steve smiled, and placed his hand in yours. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Y/N.”

As you shook his hand, you wondered - were his eyes that blue because of the scientific perfection of his body, or were they like that before the super serum?

The sound of Liz clearing her throat made you both jump, and you turned to her. “Coffee,” she offered Steve the cup, while shooting you a look suggesting that there was a talk coming later that you would not be getting out of.

“Thank you,” Steve smiled at Liz, taking the cup from her.

Liz looked at her watch, then back to you. “Why don’t you take your break early?”

“Uhh…” Of all the things you expected Liz to say at that particular moment, that wasn’t one of them.

“It’s pretty quiet. You might as well take the break now so that you can work when business picks up again.” 

You raised your eyebrows at her. That wasn’t something that you had ever done before.

“I could use the company,” Steve told you.

Your eyes shifted between the two, but you shrugged, deciding to give in to whatever was happening. “Sure. Come on, there’s a table over here that will hide you from your fan club.” You sent a glare over your shoulder at Liz, who was looking entirely too smug.

Steve followed you towards the table. “I don’t have a-" 

“I assure you, you do. All it takes is one tweet and they’ll be lining up outside this cafe for a selfie opportunity. I take it you do know what Twitter is?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Everyone assumes the technology will be the most difficult thing to get used to. Technology’s easy.” The two of you sat at the table. “People forget that I worked with Howard Stark. It’s not hard for me to understand how technology advances. Culture, now that’s the hard one.”

“How so?”

Steve gazed around the cafe. “Well, if I was here before the ice, first of all, those two men over there,” he indicated the direction, “Would definitely not be holding hands. The restrooms,” he pointed, “You only have two - male and female. Seventy years ago it wasn’t uncommon to have extra ones labelled ‘coloured.’ That woman wouldn’t have had to go outside for a smoke.” He considered. “You know, no one thought to tell me that cigarettes were bad for you when I woke up. Tony lost it when I asked why no one in the tower smoked.”

You chuckled. “We’ve learnt a few things on the way.”

“And that’s what makes it difficult. Most of the changes I see are all for the better, but for you they changed gradually over time. I went to sleep with one version and woke up seventy years later. Takes a little bit of getting used to.” He took a sip of his coffee. 

“You seem to be handling it okay, though.”

“There’s not a whole lot that can surprise me anymore. I just take it as it comes. But you,” he smiled. “Barista by day and master thief by night?”

You shrugged. “I told you, work gets boring.”

“I don’t know,” he leaned back in his chair, gazing around the cafe. “It doesn’t seem so bad. Perhaps we should swap. You can have the alien invasions and world-ending catastrophes, and I’ll take coffee and jazz music,” he took a sip of the coffee.

“Sounds fun, but I’m not all that great in a fight. I prefer to stay unseen.”

Steve raised his eyebrows. “I saw you.”

“I let you,” you grinned.

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “Okay, so you don’t fight, then what do you do? You can’t tell me you learned to climb ten stories overnight.”

“Of course not. The first time I got bored at work, I took up parkour, then rock climbing. I’d already spent years hacking things for fun. Then realised that these skills might work really well together if I wanted to say, rob someone of millions of dollars and give it to a good cause.”

“That’s a ridiculous story,” he told you. “How does one go from learning parkour to breaking into places like Avengers tower?”

“Says the world-famous soldier who got rejected from the army for health reasons on multiple occasions.” you deadpanned. 

Steve chuckled. “Touché.” He took another sip of his coffee. “Hang on, are you planning another attempt on my home?”

“Actually, I was starting to think that Alfred Baxter is sitting on a lot of money he isn’t using.”

He stared at you, open mouthed, before he started laughing. “I’m not sure I should be talking to you.”

“I definitely shouldn’t be talking to you,” you replied. “But that doesn’t seem to be stopping me.”

Steve smiled. “You know, Tony’s alarmed the whole building because of you. You can’t so much as open a window without an alarm going off unless you’re registered by F.R.I.D.A.Y.” 

You considered this, thinking about how it would work. “So the alarms go off when you open the windows?”

“Are you… plotting something?” Steve asked.

“Of course not,” you replied. “I would never.”

He raised his eyebrows at you.

“I was just thinking that Tony could use a little friendly advice.”

“That sounds awfully like plotting.”

You shrugged and gave him an innocent smile.

“You are going to get me in trouble. I can feel it; you’re a bad influence.”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you, Captain?” you leant forward. “People can only influence you if you let them.”

* * *

You chatted with Steve for a while before business started picking up, and you got back to work. Liz gave you a look, which you chose to ignore in favour of working. It wasn’t until the two of you were packing up that you gave in.

“Spit it out,” you told her. “You’ve been dying to say it ever since Steve left.”

Liz just smiled sweetly. “I don’t think I need to say anything, dear.”

You rolled your eyes. “He’s just a friend.”

“Please. The chemistry was coming off you in waves, and I know flirting when I see it.”

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“You were shaking his hand for two minutes.”

You turned away from her to start stacking chairs. “You’re exaggerating.”

“Maybe, but you know I saw you gazing into his eyes. You might be able to fool yourself, but you can’t fool me.”

You sighed. “I like him, he’s a good guy. But the last thing I want is any sort of relationship with Captain freaking America.”

Liz shrugged. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

“Well, do me a favour and warn me next time you’re about to start flirting with a celebrity in my store, will you? I’m an old woman, my heart can’t take that many surprises.”

“Your heart’s in better condition than mine, I swear.”

Liz just smiled. 

Once you’d finished with the chairs, you picked up your bag, turning to her. “Thank you,” you spoke softly. “For the early break.”

“You are very welcome.”

* * *

The next morning, Steve awoke to a message from F.R.I.D.A.Y. “Mr. Stark requests your presence in his office whenever possible.”

Steve’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help his childish grin as he quickly got changed and made his way to Tony’s office. He toned down his expression as he walked through the door to find Tony leaning against his desk.

Without a word, Tony pointed to the window. As Steve approached it, he felt a cool breeze hit. He touched the glass, noticing the circle which had been cut out of the window. Steve turned back to Tony. “Robin?” he asked.

Tony nodded and held out a note. Steve stepped forward to take it, and actually had to hide his mouth with his hand to cover his smile as he read it.

_Just because I can’t open the window doesn’t mean I can’t go through it._


	5. Chapter 5

After that, it became a game. Steve would tell you about the updates Tony made to his security, and then you would create a new hacking program and get past them.

Much to your surprise, you and Steve became close friends. Steve appreciated having someone around who wasn’t, well, super, and you enjoyed not having to hide your after hours activities. And, as it turned out, Steve was easy to get along with. After each break-in, Steve would come by the cafe, or you would meet him in his suite at the tower, so that you could discuss Tony’s reaction. Often you found yourself leaving hours later, after talking to him about anything and everything.

Then you’d both go back to your usual life until Tony updated the system again. Steve in particular found the whole thing very entertaining.

It wasn’t until two months later that it started to become difficult.

* * *

Steve smiled as he entered the meeting room. Tony had gathered the entire team, and the only thing they had been told was that this meeting had nothing to do with any potentially world-ending event.

“You know what’s going on, Steve?” Clint asked.

Steve shook his head. “I have a feeling it’s something to do with that criminal that keeps breaking in, though.”

As he said the words, Tony entered the room and sat in his chair, folding his hands on the table. “Steve’s right. I am declaring war on the criminal known as Robin.”

Clint laughed. “Just ‘cos the guy keeps getting past your security systems.”

“That’s exactly why. This has been going on too long. I will not rest until we have caught him in the act!”

“Okay,” Clint leaned forward. “What are you intending to do once you catch him? Hand him over to the police?”

“That would be the proper thing to do,” Steve mused, fully knowing that there was absolutely no way he was going to let that happen.

Tony hesitated. “I don’t think so. He’s been helping max out our security, and did you hear about Alfred Baxter? That guy’s a jerk. He deserves every bit of the three million he lost.”

“Right,” Bucky grinned. “So we just make sure that Steve’s not around when we catch him so that he can’t talk us into doing the right thing.”

“If we’re not turning him in,” Bruce started, “Then why make the effort to catch him?”

“Because my pride is wounded, Bruce,” Tony admitted. “I can’t allow that to continue.”

“And I want to shake his hand,” Clint added.

“Me too.” Sam agreed. “So we catch him, heal Tony’s ego and we all get to shake his hand. Except Steve, of course, so that he can’t turn this guy over to the police.”

Steve held up his hands in defeat. “We gotta catch the guy first.”

“That’s an excellent point,” Tony agreed. “Which is why we’re all here. The only way that this criminal has known about the system updates is if someone told him.”

Steve felt his muscles tense.

“For that reason, it is important that this plan stays between the people in this room. Avengers only. The security guys can’t be trusted.”

Steve smiled and relaxed his shoulders. Dodged that bullet. For now.

“Right, so here’s the plan…”

* * *

It was a quiet day at work, and once again, you were bored. You were leaning against the counter wondering if the guy who complained that the extra hot coffee he ordered was too hot deserved to be robbed. He seemed like a rich snob judging from his suit and the way he walked. Perhaps you should google local rich businessmen and see who you could find.

Your phone buzzed, drawing you from your thoughts. You smiled when you saw it was Steve.

 **Steve** : _Bad news. They’ve worked out there’s a traitor in the building. From now on, only the Avengers will know of new security protocols._

 **You** : _Uh oh. Where am I going to get my inside info now?_

 **Steve** : _Beats me. After all, no Avenger would ever distribute the kind of information. ___

____

__

**You** : _I dunno, that Hawkeye fellow seems pretty shady to me._

 **Steve** : _Actually, I’m pretty sure Clint is your new biggest fan._

 **You** : _I’ll get him an autograph._

“Is that who I think it is?” 

You jumped. “Jeez, Liz, I thought you were in the back.”

“I was. Then I came out here, you were just too focused on your man there to notice.”

You rolled your eyes. “How do you even know who I’m texting?”

“The smile on your face,” she replied. 

“Why are you so interested?” you replied.

Liz shrugged. “I’ll never forgive myself if I let you let a man like that get away.”

You frowned. “Steve is not-“

Liz grinned. “So it _is_ Steve.”

“You’re impossible,” you groaned.

“I know, dear. I know.”

* * *

A week later, you and Steve sat at the table in the cafe during your lunch break, both leaning over the StarkPad showing the current security blueprints for Avengers Tower. “This is actually pretty good,” you told him. “Tony’s outdone himself.”

“I know. He’s pretty confident too. He’s already put this system on the market.”

“Well, it would give me great pleasure to take it down, but I’m struggling to find a gap here.” You reached across to slide your fingers on the screen, zooming out. “There is literally no way to get in without setting off an alarm anymore.”

Steve looked up from the tablet to meet your eyes. “So you gonna back down?”

“Hell no. I can’t let Tony win now.” You leant back. “There has to be a way. It’s just that I’m going to have to set off an alarm.”

Steve turned back to the Stark Pad, sliding a finger across to change the view of the blueprint. You definitely didn’t notice the way the muscles in his back moved when he did it. And absolutely didn’t spend the next few minutes admiring the way the blue of his eyes seemed brighter from this angle, or the dark tips on his eyelashes, or the way his jaw moved slightly when he focused. Nope, definitely not looking at any of those things. 

Okay, you might have been looking. But Steve Rogers was a damn good looking man, and he was sitting right next to you. Looking was totally natural. Anyone in your position would be looking. It didn’t mean anything.

Steve finally spoke, drawing you from your thoughts. “What if you set off every alarm?”

You blinked a couple of times and looked back to the StarkPad. “There’s what, seven different sections on each level? If I was to set off all the alarms as I went…”

“We’d have no idea where you actually were.”

“It’s still risky,” you decided. “Having all of you know that I’m in the building? That’s asking to be caught.”

Steve considered this. “I could make sure no one would find you.”

You looked at him.

“You know who’s in charge of the Avengers battle plans?”

“You?”

Steve grinned. “You breaking into the building would automatically put me in command of the Avengers and the security systems. They’d trust me to give us the best possible chance of capturing you. So if I knew where you were going to be, I could make sure they wouldn’t be near you.”

“You’d do that?”

Steve smirked. “Someone’s gotta stop Tony’s ego from growing any bigger. Besides, he keeps telling me to loosen up and have a little fun. I’m just taking his advice.”

“Alright then, we’ve got some planning to do.”


	6. Chapter 6

You knew it was going to be different this time. It wasn’t just your game anymore; the Avengers were playing too. And for the first time, your plan relied on someone else. Prior to this, every break-in had been a solo mission, so the thought that you didn’t have complete control this time made you a little nervous. But you trusted Steve - he would have never offered to do this if he couldn’t manage it.

You checked your watch. Time to go. You and Steve had planned it so that the Avengers would be sleeping when the alarms first went off, buying you a little bit of time, but you’d still need to move fast if this was going to work. You picked the lock on the side door of the tower, effectively setting off the first alarm and flung it open, racing through to the next door. 

Once in the next room, you plugged your phone into the security panel.

Tony had designed the new system so that the alarms would sound immediately with the location of the breach. You could already hear F.R.I.D.A.Y. revealing which door you had entered through to anyone listening. You needed to get this program working so that you could get as far away from that particular door as soon as possible.

With a few taps, you had every alarm on the first three levels of the building going off at once. You could hear them through the audio system - many automated voices trying to announce which alarm was triggered at the same time. There result was a mess of sounds, all blending together so that no single voice could be understood. You grinned. Part one of the plan was successful. Now, it was time to move.

You sprinted through the building, making sure to open every door you knew to be alarmed - setting off the alarms once again, and adding even more voices to the absolute chaos of the alarm systems. Sometimes you would pass through the doors you opened, other times you would leave them. Sometimes you would backtrack to another passage you had already passed to change your direction completely.

The noise picked up around you, and you smiled. You could hear the arguing and confusion of the security guards as you raced up the stairs to the next level. You opened the door before continuing up the stairs and racing through level two. You ducked around a corner to let some guards pass, then raced into an elevator to access the security panel. From here, you could set off every alarm in the entire building, adding to the many alarms currently sounding.

You had done so in just a few taps. Before you left, you pressed the button for every single level, then raced back to the stairs before the elevator doors closed.

You managed to stay away from guards or Avengers until you got to level seven. You were running through a hall when you felt someone grab your arm and pull. Your heart jumped, adrenaline pumping as you tried to work out how you were getting out of this one. 

You were dragged through a door and pushed against a shelf before you finally saw the face of your captor. 

Steve pressed a finger to his lips, then tapped his ear. You breathed out a sigh of relief and nodded your understanding. They were listening. Say a word, and they would hear you. It would all be over.

You stayed silent, holed up into what appeared to be a supply closet, pinned between Steve Rogers and a shelf. You could still hear the alarms going off, somewhat dampened by the closed door.

Steve listened in to whatever was being said in his ear. He seemed to be waiting for something, which left you panting slightly from running and trying very hard not to think about the way Steve’s extremely well defined chest was pressed against yours. Really, you needed to stop being surprised by this sort of thing. How many times did you have to remind yourself - he was _perfected by science._

And now you were thinking about what the rest of his scientifically perfect body might look like. Or feel like. Against your body. Preferably naked. 

Ah hell, this is not the way this break-in was meant to go. 

“No, nothing unusual here, either. What have you got, Nat?” Steve smiled slightly at you as he spoke to the rest of his team.

You could feel the rumbling of his chest against you as he spoke. In an attempt to clear your mind, you took a deep breath. You realised the mistake instantly as you breathed in the scent of sandalwood, soap and something distinctly Steve. Dammit.

Steve didn’t seem to be affected by this at all, the bastard. He just watched the door, waiting for whatever he had come to hide you from. Was this really just part of a mission to him?

But then he turned to face you, and your eyes connected. It was as though he was only just now noticing how close you were, a faint pink dusting his cheeks. His eyes dropped to your lips.

Subconsciously, you took your bottom lip between your teeth. Your heart was only beating that erratically because you had sprinted up the stairs of Avengers Tower, right?

Steve’s eyes connected with yours once more. He leant forward slightly, his nose brushing against yours. He was so close now. It would be so easy to just…

The thumping of running feet through the hallway broke whatever spell the two of you had fallen under, and you both looked towards the sound. A moment later, Steve slowly opened the door. Once he’d confirmed the coast was clear, he smiled at you, nodded and left the closet, running in the opposite direction to where you were about to go. 

You took three deep breaths and counted backwards from ten to make sure your head was back in the game before you continued your run through Avengers Tower.

Once you reached the office level, you started opening all of the air vents you came across. You knew that Tony would be waiting for you in his office, so you had to find another way to get him a message. Once you’d set off nearly every air vent alarm, you pulled yourself up into one. A bit of crawling later, you poked your gift through the air vent to his office. You shuffled back through the air vents to drop into the office next to Tony’s and unlocked the window.

Once outside, you made your way around the building and started climbing down on the opposite side to where you had left before you ran off into the night. 

You needed to get home, take a shower, and then write a really long list of reasons why Steve Rogers could only ever be a friend.

* * *

Tony was mad. Steve was smiling to himself just thinking about it. Two hours after the alarms had stopped going off, they had to admit that Robin had escaped. If he was honest, he was glad that it took them that long to give up. He needed the time to calm himself after having been so damn close to her in that supply closet. The way she had looked at him… If the guards hadn’t run past at that exact moment… 

He decided it was best not to think about it.

Steve switched into Captain America mode as he arrived at the meeting room. He knew what was about to happen, and he would have to be careful if he intended to stay undercover. When he entered, he found Clint sitting cross legged on the floor laughing. Natasha leaned against the wall, a small smile on her lips, while the other Avengers were seated around the table.

“How’s it going, Tony?” Steve asked.

Tony raised his eyebrows with a smile. “How do you think, Steve? I just received a feather through the vent in my office.”

Clint laughed harder.

Tony slammed the feather down on the table, grinning as he spoke dramatically. “Alright Avengers, Robin has clearly won this round, but we have learnt a valuable lesson.” He made eye contact with every single person in the room before continuing. “One of you is the traitor. There’s no other way he would have known which doors were alarmed.”

Clint grinned. “I know! I thought this was great when a thief started breaking in just to mess with Tony, but now I find out that one of you have teamed up with him? This is fantastic.”

“And you,” Tony pointed to Clint. “Are number one on the suspect list.”

Clint shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to hide. Wanna try looking at the one’s who aren’t admitting that this is funny?”

“We all think it’s funny,” Sam replied. “And I enjoy having something to do that doesn’t involve the world getting destroyed. But I’m no traitor.”

“Which is exactly what a traitor would say,” Bucky grinned. “I suspect all of you. Except him,” he pointed to Bruce.

“Why not me? I could be a traitor.”

“Bruce, if you get mad you turn into a giant green monster,” Tony spoke. “No offence, but it kind of makes you a terrible choice for anything involving stealth.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true,” Bruce agreed. 

“Steve’s also off the suspect list,” Tony said. 

Steve fought to keep a straight face.

“Really?” Nat asked, standing straighter. “Why?”

“Because he’s Captain America. When’s the last time he consorted with a criminal?”

“Well…” Bucky started.

“Also, he’s a terrible liar,” Tony added.

“Okay, that’s true,” Bucky agreed.

“But as for the rest of you,” Tony started. “I will be keeping a very close eye on you.”


	7. Chapter 7

Fifteen minutes after the end of the meeting, Steve entered the shared living space to find Clint standing in front of a white board, adding notes to a list of names. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

“We’re taking bets,” Clint announced. “Check it out!” he pointed to the white board.

“Are those odds?” Steve asked.

“Yep!” Clint grinned. “One hundred to one that you are the traitor.”

Steve glanced at the board. “Why are you up the top?”

Clint pointed to his two to one odds. “Well, Tony says I’m the prime suspect, and I’m running this thing, so if you all bet on me then I get to keep all the money.”

“Is that how it works?” Steve asked.

“It’s fine by me,” Tony spoke from the couch. “I already put a hundred on him. I’m calling his bluff.”

“So what do you think, Steve,” Natasha asked with a smile. “Who’s your money on.”

Steve glanced at the board. “I’ll put ten on Bucky,” he decided, pulling out his wallet.

“Hey!” Bucky cried. “Don’t you trust me?”

“No,” Steve replied, handing the money to Clint.

“That’s it,” Bucky said. “I’m putting five on Steve.”

“Bucky, no!” Sam called from the kitchen before poking his head in. “That’s a terrible idea.”

Clint eyed Bucky. “He’s right, you know. It’s a pretty bad bet.”

“Makes me feel better though,” Bucky passed Clint a note. “And besides, none of you knew Steve before he became Captain America. He got into more mischief than you might think.”

“Wait,” Sam spoke, “You think Steve might actually be the traitor?”

Bucky laughed. “Hell no. He really is a terrible liar. But at least this way if he is pulling one over on us, I’ll win five hundred dollars.”

Bruce approached the board, glancing across it as Clint wrote Bucky’s name under Steve’s. “How is Thor in on this bet?” Bruce asked. “Isn’t he in Asgard?”

“I think the better question,” Steve replied, “Is how Loki is in on this bet. I thought he died.”

“Have you met Loki?” Tony asked. “I think it’s unreasonable to expect him to stay dead.”

“That’s true,” Steve agreed. “That is true.”

* * *

When you tapped on the outside of Steve’s window the next night, you had to admit you were a little nervous. You had convinced yourself that the way you had reacted with to him in that supply closet had been simple biology. He was both extremely good looking and pressed up against you; it wasn’t unnatural for the primal part of your brain to kick in. Anyone would have that problem. But there was a tiny voice in the back of your head warning you that you were getting dangerously close to the edge of the friend zone.

It didn’t help that the ‘long list of reasons why you and Steve Rogers shouldn’t be any more than friends’ turned out to be surprisingly short. Still, the entire three reasons you had were damn good ones. One, Steve only saw you as a friend. Two, you were a criminal and he was a superhero. That was bound to cause a few issues. Three, he was Captain America, which meant that if anyone found out he was consorting with a criminal he was in a lot of trouble - if he went from consorting to… _consorting_ … the trouble would be a whole lot worse.

You repeated the reasons in your head as the window opened and Steve grinned at you, eyes sparkling.

You took a breath. This would be easy. Just go on as though you weren’t moments away from kissing him the last time you were together. You could do that. Right?

“Hey there, little bird. Stay there a moment,” Steve stuck his arm through the window. “Go on. Tony put motion sensors on any sort of entryway, so I have to turn it off for you to get in.”

You squeezed your way through the window, careful not to touch Steve on the way through. “The results of my last break in?”

“That and the time you cut through his window. The glass is also now very high quality. You’re making quite the impression around here.”

You grinned.

Steve shut the window behind you as you wandered over to the kitchenette and lifted yourself up to sit on the bench. Steve rested a hand on the bench, the other on his waist.  
You had to admit that your worst fear was coming true right now. It was as though everything you had felt in that closet had coming rushing back the moment you were in Steve’s presence. Were you imaging the tension between the two of you, or could he feel it too?

“How was work?” Steve asked.

“Boring,” you replied, reminding yourself to just act natural. “How was your meeting?”

“It was pretty great,” Steve grinned. “The only Avengers who aren’t currently suspects are Bruce and myself.”

You laughed. “Well, you two would probably be my last choices for accomplices out of the lot of you.”

Steve pouted. “That’s offensive. I’m an excellent help.”

“You are, but I wouldn’t have picked it. I always imagined you would be the sort to turn me in straight away.”

“And yet you still told me who you were.”

You smiled. This was nice. This was friendly. You could work with this. “Hey, do you have your earpiece handy? I had a great idea for how to break in again.”

Steve walked to the bedside cabinet and opened a drawer and rummaged around to pull out an earpiece. You reminded yourself not to look too closely at the way his muscles bulged when he moved. Why did he insist on wearing such tight T-shirts? 

“Actually, about that,” He continued talking, not knowing that you were currently struggling to keep your eyes to yourself. “Why didn’t you lie?” He returned to you and dropped the earpiece into your hand, fingers brushing yours. You nearly jumped at the touch.

_Focus_. “Why didn’t I lie about what?”

“When we first met, in the elevator, you told me that you stole fifteen million dollars from Tony. Didn’t it occur to you to lie? Considering I’m Captain America and you know I always turn criminals in?” He grinned.

“Of course I thought about it, but I just… Lying has never worked out for anyone long term. Also, telling the truth was much more fun.” You pulled the earpiece apart and started studying the design. It was calming - you had something to focus on besides Steve.

“You have a moral objection to lying?”

“Sure, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. But I feel like after stealing fourteen billion dollars, lying wouldn’t really be an issue for you.”

“Fourteen billion?” You looked up to meet his eyes. Okay, looking into his eyes might have been a mistake. His eyes were god damn beautiful. You quickly focused back on the earpiece. “Have I really stolen that much?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I don’t keep track of the money. I spend more time looking at the results.”

“Okay, but why are you okay with stealing money but not lying?”

“Like I said, lying never works out long term. Someone always gets hurt. But stealing money,” you shrugged. “Sure, it’s probably wrong. But as long as I send it to the right people and the right places, it can help a lot of people.”

“I feel like, as Captain America, I should be able to argue that.”

“And what about as Steve Rogers?”

He hesitated, as though he wasn’t exactly sure how to answer. Eventually, he murmured the words, “As Steve Rogers, I think Captain America’s in a lot of trouble right now.”

Something in his tone forced you to look at him. He was closer than you’d anticipated, his hand on the bench just next to you, his face inches away from yours. He was gentle when he took the earpiece out of your hands and placed it to the side. 

You swallowed the newly forming lump in your throat. “We can’t do this,” you told him uneasily.

“We can,” he corrected, “We just shouldn’t.”

“We shouldn’t,” you agreed in a whisper.

And then his lips were on yours. It was gentle at first, as though he was giving you the opportunity to back out. When it became obvious that you weren’t about to stop him, his hand twisted through your hair, pulling you towards him, and the kiss gradually became stronger. You ran your hands up his chest to reach his neck, circling your arms around him to pull him closer.

Well, if you were still in the friend zone before, you were definitely out now. And you were probably going to have to scratch reason number one off your list as well. 

A quiet voice in the back of your mind tried to remind you that there were still two very good reasons on you should not be doing this. Not least of which was that Captain America and a high profile criminal was the worst match ever. You shut the voice down. You’d deal with those facts later - right now you just couldn’t bring yourself to care.

Steve’s spare hand found it’s way to your waist, his tongue slipping into your mouth to deepen the kiss. You shivered involuntarily.

“Excuse me, Captain Rogers,” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice spoke through the room.

Steve pulled back, groaning softly and leaving his forehead against yours. “What is it, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but your presence is required for an urgent mission.

Steve sighed and moved back slightly. “Sorry.”

You just smiled. “Go save the world. You might be needing this,” you picked up the earpiece and clicked the pieces back together before you passed it to him. 

“Thanks.” He stepped back. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., please let the others know I’m on my way.”

“Of course, Captain.”

You pushed yourself off the bench, standing up, and Steve walked you to the window. There was still tension between you, but it was different somehow. It had changed. 

“Talk when I get back?” Steve asked.

“Sure.”

He opened the window and put his arm through, allowing you to climb through.

“And Captain?” You spoke gently once you were safely outside his window.

“Yeah?”

“Stay safe out there.”

He nodded, “Do us all a favour, and have one hell of a break in plan ready when we get back?”

You grinned. “Absolutely. I have just the thing.”


	8. Chapter 8

You groaned, nearly dropping the third mug for that day. You were so not in the right headspace for this. Or for any kind of work, really.

“You okay down there?” Liz asked.

“I’m fine,” you replied. But you weren’t really.

You’d woken up a week ago with a storm of emotions swirling through you. Kissing Steve had been… well, wonderful, if you were being truthful, but now that you’d had some distance you couldn’t stop thinking of the complications that came with it. It wasn’t as though you didn’t like him - if anything, you finally had to admit that you maybe did have some more-than-friend feelings for him. But even so, there were still two very valid reasons for you not to be together on your list.

Of course, you’d talk to him eventually, but he’d immediately left to go who knows where on who knows what kind of mission. Now, a week later, you had to admit that you were worried about him. He could be anywhere, fighting anything, and you had no idea what was going on.

That became worse when you realised that no one knew about you. If something happened to Steve, absolutely no one would think to tell you about it. You wouldn’t know until there was a media release. The thought made you feel sick.

Liz took the mug from your hands, drawing you from your thoughts. “Want to talk about it?”

You hesitated.

“You’ve been like this all week, dear. What’s going on? Something happen between you and Steve?”

“We, uh,” you sighed. “We kissed.”

“That sounds awful,” Liz smiled. “I can see why you’re moping around.”

You rolled your eyes. “I know, I should be happy. But he’s Captain America, Liz. What the hell does he want with me?”

Liz shrugged. “From what I can see, Captain America has nothing to do with it. It’s the man behind the shield that’s important.”

“I know, but that doesn’t make it any less complicated. He’s famous. If I date him, then everyone will know about it. I don’t know how to deal with that.” And then there was the problem of what would happen to Steve if you ever got caught, but you couldn’t exactly mention that to Liz.

“Have you tried talking to him about this?”

“No,” you huffed. “I would like to, but he’s busy saving the world somewhere right now. I’m pretty sure he’s not even on this continent and ever since he told me he was leaving I’ve had this awful tightness in my chest. I swear it’s getting worse every day, and I know that I have no right to be worried about him but-“

“So that’s what this is about.” Liz interrupted. “Dear, you’re allowed to be worried. Even as just a friend, you’d be allowed to be worried. God knows what he’s fighting right now. And if you care about him the way I think you do, what he does is going to scare the hell out of you.”

You let out a breath.

“But for what it’s worth, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I fully believe that he is fighting as hard as he possibly can to get back to you. And I think your other concerns will fade away the moment you see him again.”

“I hope so.”

“It’ll all work out, dear. Just… maybe stay away from anything breakable until he’s back, yeah?”

“Thanks, Liz.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

* * *

It was another two weeks before you saw Steve again, and altogether it was the longest three weeks of your life.

You had spent most of that time trying to distract yourself. You’d planned out the next break-in to Avengers Tower in meticulous detail. When the was done, you started planning another heist, but once you were ready, you found you couldn’t go through with it. You were way too distracted, and the last thing that you wanted was for Steve to come back and find you in prison.

So you busied yourself with other tasks. You hacked the FBI database. (You were number twelve on the FBI’s most wanted list, but they still had nothing on you). You read every book in your apartment, including the one on knitting patterns. You started learning the piano, and then quit ten minutes later when you realised that you couldn’t focus on that either. You spent hours training at your parkour gym or callisthenics parks, and you worked as much as Liz would let you.

Then, finally, as you were getting out some mugs to make the coffees that had just been ordered, Liz nudged you. You looked at her, and then in the direction she indicated.

Standing just inside the doorway was Steve, wearing that pathetic cap and glasses disguise that somehow seemed to actually work, which always bewildered you. There was an angry red gash on his cheek and some bruising on his neck which disappeared under his shirt, but he was here. Alive. 

Without thinking about it, you launched yourself over the counter in a parkour move that really shouldn’t have been performed indoors and threw yourself into his arms.

“I’ll just finish making these coffees then, shall I?” You heard Liz mutter behind you. You could tell from her tone that she was smiling, so you decided to ignore her in favour of burying yourself in Steve’s chest.

“Hi,” Steve chuckled.

“Hey. Oh,” you stepped back, finally having the sense to be embarrassed. “Sorry, I might have gotten a bit carried away there.”

“Don’t be, I liked it. I particularly enjoyed the part where you nearly knocked over the cupcake stand.”

“Shut up,” you muttered.

Behind you, you could hear Liz talking to the customers about something regarding young love and the first time apart. You sighed. Your actions probably did require a bit of an explanation. You were meant to be staying unnoticed, for crying out loud.

Steve reached over to brush a strand of hair back. “I can’t say long. I have about a thousand meetings, debriefings and press conferences to go to, and a bunch of paperwork on top of that.”

“Rough mission, huh?”

He nodded. “To be honest, I just wanted to see you. I’m also here to beg you to _please_ come and interrupt any of those things. I know they’re required, but they’re just so boring.”

You laughed. “Captain America isn’t a fan of the legal stuff?”

“That shouldn't be surprising to you,” he smirked. “Give me an alien invasion any day, as long as I don’t have to write a report afterwards.”

“Right, well, I’m going to need you to clear me a path.”

“Done,” he spoke, eyes sparkling. “How will I know you’re in the building?”

“Trust me,” you grinned, “You’ll know.”

“C’mere,” he muttered, pulling you back into his arms and wrapping you in a tight hug. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head, then stepped back. “I’ll see you later,” he smiled, turning away.

“No you won’t,” you called after him as he left.

You could hear his laughter fading as he walked away.

You returned to the counter, trying your best to ignore Liz’s amused grin. “Shut up,” you muttered.

The grin grew. “You know, I have something prepared for this moment.”

You eyed her suspiciously.

She pulled a small notepad out from under the counter. “It’s a list of some of the things you have said to me in regards to that man. Would you like to hear?”

“Would you listen if I said no?”

Liz flipped open the notepad and began. “‘He’s just a friend.’” She looked at you. “That one’s kind of cliche, I think. ‘I wasn’t flirting’,” she met your eyes. “Yes you were.” She looked back at the notepad. “And my personal favourite, ‘I have no interest in any sort of relationship with Captain freaking America.’” She grinned. 

“Liz?”

“Yes?”

“Piss off.”

She laughed. “Alright. But no more parkour in my cafe.”

You smiled. “Deal.”

* * *

For the first time since the end of the mission, the Avengers gathered in the meeting room. They had debriefed afterwards, but at that stage they still needed some information. Tony and Bruce had retreated to the lab straight after debriefing, and had come to Steve as soon as they’d finished. The news was bad at best.

Steve had called the meeting, and twenty minutes later he stood in front of the Avengers. “Hill can’t be here right now, she’s still dealing with France,” he spoke, “But she asked me to tell Clint she’s putting fifty on him. Fury says seventy-five on Natasha.”

Clint grinned. “Done.”

“So, let’s get to work. I think we can all agree that we got lucky last mission. If Tony hadn’t flown that bomb out in time, well…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence. “But Tony and Bruce have finished analysing the residue from the explosion, and it’s worse than we thought. Tony?”

Tony stood up, swiping on the table a couple of times to bring up a hologram of the bomb. “This isn’t your standard bomb. It’s what we call a chemical bomb.”

“So like a biological weapon?” Nat asked.

“Sort of,” Tony continued. “When it exploded, it released a toxin which has taken us forty-eight hours to figure out. We don’t know how they made it, but we know what it is now.” he took a deep breath. “This is a DNA scrambler. If it was to be set off, it would start altering the DNA of anyone who came into contact with it.”

“Not in a good way,” Bruce explained. “It’s a complete lottery. Maybe you grow an extra head, maybe a tail, maybe you lose a leg. But the body will keep changing until it can’t handle it any more and…”

“Let’s just say it’s a nasty way to die,” Tony concluded. “The only reason it failed was because I flew it to the middle of the ocean where there were no people, and the suit protected me.” 

“What about the wildlife?” Natasha asked.

Bruce shrugged. “We’re not sure how this thing works. Vision’s currently working with a team of marine biologists to see if it actually did change anything, and if so what the extent of the damage might be.”

“And I suppose wherever Vision is, Wanda will be,” Clint murmured.

Steve nodded. “It’s not a bad thing to have a presence down there right now, anyway. There’s still the risk of a second attack. Keeping Wanda and Vision in France should help them feel at least a little more protected.”

“But am I the only one who finds it weird? I mean, he’s technically a robot.”

“He’s an android,” Tony corrected. “An evolving one at that. He’s just as human as any of us.”

“We’re not in the business of judging people on who they fall in love with, Clint,” Natasha reminded.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s wonderful that they have each other. But it’s a little weird.”

“It is a little,” Sam agreed.

“Can we get back on topic, please?” Steve interrupted. “Firstly, what goes on between Wanda and Vision is none of our business. Secondly, Tony’s not finished.”

Everyone turned back to Tony. “Cap’s right. This gets worse. We have spent days in that lab, and we’ve come up with no ways to neutralise it. The chemical mixture is almost impossible to work out. We’ve got no idea what’s in it, or how to stop it.”

“Well, we’d better find out what it is before we come across another one,” Nat spoke. “So what _do_ we know?"

Tony zoomed in on a logo. “We know it was created by A.I.M.”

“We have a location for them, don’t we?” Steve asked.

“Nah,” Sam replied. “We’ve only got a suspected location. We don’t have proof.”

“So why don’t we go in all guns blazing and get the proof we need? Grab the plans for these things at the same time,” Bucky suggested.

“We could be wrong,” Steve said. “We can’t open fire on enemy territory if we don’t know for sure that it’s enemy territory.”

“So we send a spy,” Clint offered. “Nat could get in and out without being seen. Get the formula without anyone knowing she’s there.”

“It’s possible,” Nat spoke. “Have we got security info for the building?”

“We can get it,” Tony started altering the hologram until he arrived at blueprints for the building in question. “Oh, hell.”

“What now?” Sam asked.

“They’re running our alarm system,” Tony replied. “The one we developed after Robin started breaking in.”

“Great, so you can hack it,” Sam said.

Tony shook his head. “Anything I can hack, Robin can hack. This was designed to keep him out. Didn’t work, of course, but it will sure keep us out.”

“Why do you put this stuff on the market, Tony?” Clint asked. “Why?”

“Why would A.I.M. use Tony’s tech?” Bucky asked.

“Because it’s a damn good security system,” Nat replied. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to attempt to get in this tower without anyone noticing. Let me know if I set off any alarms.”

Five attempts later, Natasha admitted defeat. “How the hell does Robin do this?” She asked. “Even if I start from inside the building, I can’t hack the thing.”

“Maybe that’s something we need to ask him,” Bruce mused.

Steve could feel his heart sinking. “This is a terrible idea,” he murmured.

“Right now, Cap, it’s all we’ve got,” Tony stated. “So if whichever one of you is a traitorous scumbag could make use of your connection and get your buddy in here for a meeting, that would be great.” Tony hesitated. “And while you’re at it, get him to hurry up with the next break in, because I could really use some fun. Does anyone else hear music?”

The group fell silent, listening to what sounded like jazz piano and… whistling. Curious, Steve fished his earpiece out of his pocket and place it in his ear. He had to struggle not to laugh when he realised. “It’s in the all of our audio,” he spoke. “Tony, what alarm systems do we have that aren’t audio based?”

“We’ve got a visual feed on the seventeenth floor,” Tony stated, “But even if we were to watch it, we wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what we were seeing because…”

“Billy Joel is in all our audio,” Sam concluded. 

“Alright, everybody take a floor,” Steve instructed. “We gotta assume he’s on the first floor right now, so Nat, head to the second. Clint - third, Sam - fourth, Bruce, fifth. Bucky, you’ve got the stairs. Tony, you wanna hang out in your office again?”

“No, that didn’t work last time. I’m going with Clint. Make sure he doesn't get up to anything.”

“In that case, I’ll be in the elevator.” Steve smiled. “Let’s catch ourselves a thief.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song being referred to in this chapter is 'The Stranger' by Billy Joel (it was playing when I was originally writing this, and it just seemed to relate really well.) You can be find it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3kpaSJtaDE
> 
> That said, you could really replace it with any song you deem to be relevant. Have fun!

It was easy, really. Once you had finished investigating Steve’s earpiece and worked out the technology behind it, you were able to figure out how Tony had designed all of the audio in the building. You knew from your last break-in that they relied heavily on an audio feed for their alarm systems. All you needed to do was blast your music through the tower and basically just walk in - there was no way they could know where you were if they couldn’t hear their alarms. 

A moment later, you received a text from Steve. You grinned crossed the lobby of the tower, pressing the button to call for the elevator you’d once met him in.

The doors opened to reveal Steve, who was leaning on the back wall of the elevator, arms folded. “Told you I’d see you,” he grinned.

You stepped inside and closed the doors behind you before plugging your phone into the security panel. “I could have stayed out of sight if I wanted,” you told him. “You’re just making this too easy for me.”

You started the hacking program which would delete all elevator records. The Avengers wouldn’t know you were here right now, but Tony would no doubt be checking up on what alarms had been triggered later. If he found you’d been in the elevator, Steve would be in trouble.

“Be realistic, Little Bird,” he smirked. “You couldn’t get in here without me anymore.”

You looked over your shoulder at him, “I could.”

“Not without getting caught,” Steve’s eyes glistened with amusement. 

“And exactly what is it that you’re doing right now, while _I’m_ hacking the security systems so that _you_ don’t get caught?”

“I’m keeping an eye out for a thief so that he or she doesn’t get into the elevator,” Steve grinned. “Of course, if I did see the thief, I would definitely not tell him or her that there is currently no one in Tony’s office.”

“Oh, really?” You hit the button for level seventeen and rested your back against the wall, facing Steve.

“So… this song…” he began.

You smiled. “Heard it on the radio the other day. It reminded me of how our friend Tony trusts you completely.”

“Giving him some more friendly advice?” Steve asked.

“Yeah. I was going for ‘don’t trust Steve. He seems all sweet and innocent, but he’s actually a little shit’.”

Steve’s grin widened. “And what happens when it ends? You start setting off alarms again?”

“I have the entire soundtrack from Disney’s _Robin Hood_ cued to play. That should keep the alarm systems down for a while.”

Steve laughed. “I can’t believe you’re actually pulling this off right now. Tony’s going to be so mad when you get away with it.”

“Tony should know better than to rely on one thing. The audio systems in this place are fantastic, but take it down, and…” you held your arms out, gesturing to the current situation.

“Yeah. I hate to think of how much time he’s about to spend trying to remedy this one.”

“I’m just trying to help,” you grinned at Steve as the elevator arrived at the required level.

“Hey,” he spoke hesitantly, “We, uh, we still gotta talk.”

You sighed. You knew this was going to come up eventually. “I know. But can we maybe do that when I’m not breaking into the tower?”

Steve smiled. “I’ll call you later.”

You nodded, before stepping out of the elevator to find your way to Tony’s office.

Once inside, you took a moment to write down a quick message, then slipped out of the office and climbed your way down the side of Avenger’s Tower.

* * *

When the music finally stopped, the Avengers returned to the meeting room. When Steve arrived, he found the Avengers enthusiastically discussing the situation.

“That was brilliant!” Clint laughed. “I didn’t even realise how much we rely on the audio.”

“Yeah, but how do we fix that?” Sam asked. “Do we need a visual feed on every floor? Or can we just stop the guy from hacking our systems?”

“Tony’s been trying to stop that for a while now,” Nat mused. “It doesn’t seem to be working. This person, whoever he or she is, is really good at hacking. Certainly better than Tony.”

Tony’s arrival stopped the discussion, as everyone turned to him. He held up a note. “The bastard’s mocking us.”

“Really?” Clint asked.

Tony nodded. “I think he’s rubbing our inability to uncover our traitor in our faces. Through song lyrics.”

“Can I see?” Steve asked.

Tony passed Steve the paper, and he smiled as he read the lyrics before passing the note to a waiting Clint.

“So I take it Clint didn’t do anything suspicious,” Nat spoke.

Tony shook his head. “Doesn’t mean he’s off the suspect list yet, though. In fact, I think our friend here has a point.” He pointed to the note.

“And what would that be?” Clint asked.

“The traitor is the key. If I can’t catch the thief, maybe I can catch the bastard who’s decided to help him,” Tony had a smug smile on his face as he said the words.

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Bucky asked. “It’s not like anyone’s going to come right out and tell you they’ve been helping a criminal break in. And you can’t watch everyone at once.”

“No, but I can set you all on each other. So here’s the new plan. You have twelve hours to get into contact with the thief and try and organise a meeting so he can teach us to break into A.I.M. After that, I’m putting everyone into pairs. We’re going to make sure that traitor can’t help next time he decides to break in. And if he or she does, we’ll know about it.”

Steve struggled to keep the grin off his face. As it was, he couldn’t help a small smile from coming through. Oh, this was going to be _fun_.


	10. Chapter 10

When Steve had said he’d call, you had figured that your phone would be ringing that night. Honestly, you had been getting a little nauseous thinking about it, because you just didn’t know what to expect from him, and you couldn’t help running every possible scenario through your mind.

In no scenario, however, had you expected the text you had received. 

**Steve** : _I’m gonna need a rain check on that talk. Got another mission._

Great. So _that_ was happening again. You knew that this was something you were going to have to get used to if you were going to be in any sort of relationship with Steve - friends or otherwise, but that didn’t exactly make it any easier.

Except this time, you were also trying to work out exactly what you wanted. 

Actually, you knew what you wanted. You wanted Steve Rogers so badly that the idea of not being with him was causing your chest to ache. But Captain America? That was a completely different story. Even if you could have Steve Rogers, you could never be with Captain America. There were too many problems with that.

Unfortunately for you, Captain America was a part of Steve Rogers. So either you came to terms with dating both of them, or you dated neither. You were still trying to come to some sort of conclusion when you received another text from Steve two days after he had left.

Which is how you had ended up sitting on Steve’s window ledge while you waited for him to finish his debriefing.

You glanced up when you heard Steve’s door open, your heart clenching when you saw him. He dropped his shield on the ground by the door and tossed his helmet to the side as he made his way to the window. You bit your lip.

It was the first time you’d ever seen him actually wearing the uniform, and it seemed there was a distinct difference between knowing who he was and seeing it with your own eyes. This man was a legend, a war hero, a scientific miracle, a literal American symbol. Exactly how did you intend to match up to that?

Steve unlocked the window and slid it up. “Hi,” he smiled.

And that was when it clicked. It didn’t matter what uniform he wore, what shield he carried, or what governing body he worked for. When you looked into his eyes, all you could see was Steve Rogers, and if you couldn’t have Steve Rogers without Captain America, then god dammit, you’d take them both.

“Hi Steve,” you smiled back.

He tugged off his gloves, throwing them to his bed before offering his hand. You allowed him to pull you through his window. He squeezed your hand gently before letting go. 

“You look exhausted,” you told him.

“I haven’t exactly been getting a whole lot of sleep lately.” he explained. “Things are getting crazy.”

“Everything okay?” you asked.

“Not really,” he replied. “We’ve succeeded so far, but it’s coming close. I wish I could tell you more, but…”

“It’s alright, I get it. You have to keep some things quiet and I can’t be trusted.”

“I do trust you,” he replied softly.

“But I’m a criminal,” you smiled. “And there are rules about who you can tell.”

Steve sighed. “Come sit with me,” he spoke. Once you were settled on the couch, he leaned over to pick up a folder from the coffee table and passed it to you.

You frowned, and opened the folder. Several images of blueprints were inside, each detailing a section of what looked like a Stark security system.

“Like I said,” he began. “I wish I could tell you more. And I wish I didn’t have to involve you in this, but we need to get into that building without getting noticed.”

You spread the pictures out on the coffee table. “And you want my help?”

“Personally, I want you as far away from this as possible. But Nat spent a couple of hours trying to break into this tower and got nowhere. As a side note, the team has a whole new respect for you. Basically, we need someone who can teach us to hack Stark security systems.”

“Tony can’t do it himself?” you asked.

“Apparently he made his systems so secure that he can’t get in.”

“Putting them on the market may have been a mistake,” you spoke.

“He knows,” Steve replied. “The team are requesting a meeting. They want you to help plan the break in and teach Nat how to hack the systems. She’ll execute it from there. You won’t be in any danger, and they’ve already agreed that they’re never going to turn you in. But that doesn’t mean you have to go through with it. We can find another way.”

“And what happens if you can’t?”

He didn’t answer, but he look in his eyes told you all you needed to know.

You glanced back at the blueprints. “It’s going to depend what software they’re running,” you stated. “Tony’s developed so many different versions now that I’ve lost count. But if you can work out which one they’ve got, I can hand over my programs. As for staying undetected, I’ll need a little more information, but I should be able to help with that, too.”

“You know that meeting the Avengers means we’re probably going to have to end our little alliance, right? These people are master spies, assassins and some of the most brilliant brains in the world. There’s no way they’re not going to notice that there’s something here.”

You smirked. “Are you not looking forward to watching Tony’s face as he works out exactly who your little traitor is?”

“You know I am,” he smiled. “It’s just that I really enjoy screwing with him like his.”

You considered. “Breaking into this place isn’t the only way to have fun. And I’m sure we can find another way to mess with Tony.”

Steve chuckled. “I like the way you think, but he’s going to have his eyes glued to me once this comes out.”

“Is that going to stop you?”

He met your eyes, smiling. “No, it probably won’t.” He gazed into your eyes for a moment, then sighed. “What are we doing?”

“Messing with Tony.”

“You know what I mean.”

You bit your lip anxiously, trying to read his expression.

“I should never have kissed you,” he muttered.

“Wow. Way to make a girl feel special, Cap.”

He groaned. “That’s not what I meant.”

You smiled. “Okay, well, I’m pretty sure I did just as much kissing as you did. Also, we already established that we shouldn’t do that moments before we did it anyway. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we seem to be quite good at doing things we shouldn’t.”

Steve chuckled. “We are. But this,” he gestured between the two of you, “Can’t happen. Well, shouldn’t. Well it… Ugh,” he placed his head in his hands. “I’m not very good at this. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start with this,” you suggested. “Let’s just forget about the obstacles between us for a moment. Tell me, honestly, what do you want?”

“What I want is irrelevant.”

“Not to me.”

Steve shifted a little, thinking over his words. “The way you reacted when you saw me after that first mission,” he spoke carefully. “I want that, every time I get home.”

“You want someone to come home to,” you concluded.

“I guess so,” he rested his head on the back of the couch. “But I can never have that.”

“Why not?”

“You know who I am,” he said. “I have a tendency to disappear. Sometimes without notice, sometimes for months at a time. And there’s always a chance I’m not coming back. I’ll always do my best, fight my hardest, but if there’s ever a choice between my survival and someone else’s, I will always choose theirs. Ultimately, I’ve accepted that I’m probably going to die on some mission at some point. I can’t ask anyone to deal with that. I mean, who would want to be with me knowing all that?”

“I would,” you admitted, your voice small.

He looked at you. “You… really?”

“Of course, and I’m sure there are others that would too. But that person you come home to… it can’t be me.”

“But… I don’t want it to be anyone else,” his voice was soft, nearly a whisper.

“Steve, I’m a criminal. You are Captain America. You know that won’t work out. Maybe for a little while, but if I ever get caught, then your image is going down the drain and I-“

“That’s what concerns you? Let’s do it. It’ll be hilarious.”

“Steve-“

“I’m serious. I never had any intention of being the poster boy for the perfect American. I just wanted to do my part. I guarantee you, if I didn’t spend seventy years frozen in ice, no one would hold me to such high standards.”

You stared at him.

“I didn’t even choose the name Captain America. That was given to me by some publicist in the forties who thought it would help the war effort and it just stuck.”

“Oh.” You were too busy trying to process this to form a complete sentence. Was it actually possible that the two of you could be together? Was it worth hoping for?

His eyes flicked over your face, as though he was taking in all your features. “What do you think would happen if Hydra found out about you?”

You shrugged. “Kidnapping. Torture. Death.”

“And that doesn’t worry you?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then you’re insane.”

“My favourite hobby is breaking into millionaire’s houses, stealing their money and donating it to charity. I think my insanity has already been established.”

He chuckled. “This is… is this actually starting to sound kind of possible to you?”

“What if,” you started, “We were to just take things as they come? I could try not to get arrested and you could try not to get killed-“

“And we could get you a bodyguard.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“But Hydra-“

“No bodyguard. If it means that much to you, I’ll learn to fight.”

“And then we could give this a try? Seriously?”  
“I’ve kind of run out of reasons not to.”

He watched you for a moment before swallowing. “I think I’d like to kiss you again now.”

You grinned and grabbed onto the front of his suit, bringing his lips to yours. You felt him smile into the kiss as his arms wrapped around your waist. He tugged, pulling you onto his lap so that you were straddling him. 

Just as you were about to deepen the kiss, you heard a knock on the door. You vaulted yourself over the back of the couch, landing on the floor with a thud just as the door opened. 

“Tony and I could use your input in the lab.” you heard a voice say. “Is everything alright? We asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to tell you a while ago. She keeps refusing. Said she’s not going to interrupt you again if it’s not necessary.”

“Everything’s fine, Bruce,” you heard Steve’s reply. “This is just the first chance I’ve had to relax since we got back from the mission in France. I’ll be down as soon as I get changed.”

“Sure.”

The door closed, and you started laughing. “Well this isn’t going to work.”

Steve stood, offering you a hand to help you up. “No. But I’d like to mess with Tony for a little longer, if it’s alright with you.”

“Of course,” you grinned. “I do need to agree to this meeting, don’t I?”

“You do. But I should warn you, Tony’s going to be enforcing a buddy system. He wants to catch the traitor.”

“Huh.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea. But it means you’re going to have to meet one of the Avengers earlier than planned.”

You shrugged. “Just make sure whoever it is doesn’t tell Tony. I want to see his face when he realises it’s you.”

“Of course,” he smiled, bringing his lips back to yours for a brief moment. “You’ll come by tomorrow to agree to this meeting, I take it?”

You smirked, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

* * *

As usual, Steve was one of the first up in the morning. He trained, showered, and headed down to the communal lounge, where everyone had agreed to meet in order to ‘buddy up’.

Steve was investigating the updated version of Clint’s white board as the rest of them started arriving, one by one.

“Who’s Peter?” Steve asked Clint when he arrived.

Clint laughed. “It was the craziest thing. Some kid approached me the other day and asked if he could put a dollar on Tony.”

“And you let him?”

“Turns out he’s Tony’s intern. I didn’t even know Tony had an intern.”

“Huh. And Tony’s intern thinks Tony’s the traitor?”

“Said it could be that Tony’s pulling all of our legs. He also said that at a thousand to one odds he may as well put a dollar on him, because if he wins he gets a grand and if he looses, then he only looses a dollar.”

“Huh. What’s that saying about genius and crazy?”

“It’s a fine line between the two,” Tony spoke, entering the room. “And Peter’s just on this side of it. Why do you think he’s my intern? Now, we’re all here. Let’s pair up.”

Steve took a breath to calm himself. He was going to have to play his cards just right if this was going to work.

“So, Tony,” Steve started. “You want to go with Clint?”

“I went with Clint last time, it was pointless. And I’m starting to think that he actually is a spectator to this whole thing.”

“You just getting that now?” Clint asked.

“I also think he’s onto something with those odds of his. I’m taking Natasha. And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re the only person in this room that hasn’t placed a bet,” he directed the last comment at Nat.

Natasha smirked. “Sure thing, Tony.”

“Right, shall I take Bucky?” Steve asked. It was a risk, suggesting that he be partnered with Bucky - the man would totally turn Steve in just to see the look on his face - but surely Tony was too smart to think that was a good idea. 

“Hell no. He’s one of the only people in this building that you would actually lie for. Bucky’s also with me. You can have Clint.”

A wave of relief flooded through Steve. He had to admit, when he decided to manipulate Tony into giving him a partner who wouldn’t turn Steve in, he wasn’t sure how he would go. Really, though, it had been unexpectedly simple, and now he got to watch the look of sheer disappointment on Clint’s face.

“Aw, man,” Clint moaned. “I wanted to be with the traitor.”

Steve couldn’t help his smile. “Sorry to disappoint, Clint.”

“That leaves Bruce and Sam,” Tony continued. “So all of you, keep an eye on each other. Report to me if you see anything suspicious.”

“So, do I have to stay with him if he Hulks out?” Sam asked. “Sorry,” he muttered to Bruce afterwards.

“Don’t leave his side until either the traitor is uncovered or I call you into a meeting due to another break in,” Tony instructed.

“Think of it as a teamwork exercise,” Steve offered. “We’ll all get to know each other a little better.”

“If Hulk crushes me,” Sam spoke pointedly to Tony, “I’m blaming you.”

“That’s fine,” Tony replied. “As long as someone finds me that traitor.”

* * *

That night, Steve and Clint were walking through the residential floor of the tower.

“This is so dull,” Clint muttered. “I’m sorry, Steve, I really do respect you, but we know you’re not the traitorous type. I was hoping for some excitement, not fifties movies. Or have you made it to the sixties now?”

“Seventies,” Steve replied. “Do you know if Tony has a copy of Jaws?”

“Have you ever thought about getting a hobby?” Clint asked.

“You mean like watching the biggest blockbusters since the forties in order of release?”

Clint grunted. “I feel like you could be having a lot more fun. Get out on the town, meet some girls, do something that doesn’t fit with that golden boy image of yours.”

“I’ll think about it,” Steve smiled.

“Really?” Clint looked up in surprise. “I thought you’d shoot that down instantly.”

“You mind if I grab something from my quarters?” Steve asked.

Clint shrugged. “Let’s go.”

The two of them wandered into the room, and Steve made sure the door was closed behind them. “So, Clint, I actually have a favour to ask of you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Steve crossed the room to his window, and grinned back at Clint. “Don’t tell anyone what you’re about to see.”


	11. Chapter 11

You shifted a little, grinning up at Steve as he opened his window, and took hold of his hand when he offered it. Steve pulled you through the window and you dropped into his room, smiling at an open-mouthed Clint.

“No way.” Clint murmured. “No freaking way.”

Clint stood silently, glancing between the two of you. Eventually, he spoke softly. “Steve… is that…”

Steve grinned. “Clint, I’d like you to meet… well, you know her as Robin.”

“Oh my god.”

After a moments silence, you turned to Steve. “Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine, won’t you Clint?”

Clint turned to stare at Steve. “It’s been you this whole time,” he concluded.

Steve just smiled.

“And I had no idea,” Clint continued. “No one has any idea. Oh my god. I thought you would have turned her in.”

“You and me both,” you replied. 

“Oh god,” Clint continued, “I owe Bucky five hundred dollars.”

“Huh?” you looked at Steve.

“Clint here started a gambling ring,” Steve explained. “Odds that I’m the traitor are… what was it, Clint?”

“A hundred to one. I think I need to sit down,” Clint decided. 

Steve chuckled. “So… you’re not going to tell Tony, right?”

Clint dropped onto the couch. “Hell no. I’m gonna be sitting in the front row with a bucket of popcorn and a camera to capture the exact moment that he figures it out for himself.”

“Don’t worry about the camera. I’ve already asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to record him the whole time.”

Clint shook his head. “Who are you and what have you done with Captain America?”

“Someone recently told me I should do something that doesn’t fit with my ‘golden boy image’.”

Clint just shot Steve a look.

“I’m gonna be honest, I thought you’d be doing more laughing right about now,” Steve spoke.

“Oh, I will. I’m going to laugh my head off, right after I get my head around the fact that you have been assisting a criminal on her mission to…” Clint turned to you. “What exactly is your intention?”

“I’m helping improve the Avengers security systems,” you smiled.

“Oh, that’s what you call it.”

Steve shrugged. “I’m just here for fun.”

Clint smiled at that. “So what exactly is your plan here?”

You walked over to the security panel on Steve’s wall and connected your phone. “I’ve got to get this message into your meeting room. As long as someone F.R.I.D.A.Y. knows is with me, I won’t set of any alarms. So basically, Steve is just going to walk me to the room and I’ll turn off the video feed and erase records of who passed through the motion sensors on the way. Oh, that’s clever,” you settled on the floor, making yourself comfortable. “He’s updated the system without telling anyone. This could take me a moment.”

“We decided that it would be more fun if we didn’t alert anyone to her presence this time,” Steve explained. “Tony’s relying on this buddy system to find him the traitor, so just picture his face when he realises that it failed completely and he’s back to square one.”

“You do know I’m a suspect, right? He is going to assume I had something to do with it.”

“And he’ll assume I didn’t,” Steve responded. “So if you don’t actually do anything, then I won’t be lying when I tell Tony that you didn’t do anything wrong and therefore can’t be the traitor.”

At that point, Clint actually did laugh. “ _That’s_ how you’ve been getting away with this? You haven’t lied once?”

“Nope. It’s actually quite easy, considering everyone seems to think that Captain America is incapable of breaking rules.”

You snorted. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” your eyes flicked up to Steve. “You have a rich history of rule breaking, Cap.”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve smiled, “But I’ve never assisted a criminal before now.” 

“I cannot wait to see Tony’s face,” Clint grinned. “This is going to be hilarious. Also,” Clint pointed to Steve, “You just became a whole lot more awesome. You know that, right?”

“Please. I’ve always been like this. It’s just that none of you could see it. You do know the only reason I jump out of planes without a parachute is to see the look on everyone's faces, right?”

"Seriously?" Clint grinned. "I thought you were just showing off!"

"Well, that too."

“I’m in!” you announced, interrupting their conversation. “So Clint, are you ready to join my team of merry men?”

“Oh, hell yes. Let’s go.”

* * *

The three of you quickly made your way through Avengers Tower to the meeting room, running into very little problems along the way. Steve guided you through all the alarmed sections, while Clint just watched you both with amusement. He didn’t start laughing until you had arrived back in Steve’s quarters.

“This is amazing,” he laughed. “I can’t believe how disappointed I was when Tony partnered me with you.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Steve grinned. “Now we just wait for Tony to find our message, and convince him that we had nothing to do with this.”

“Easy,” Clint grinned.

“Well, gentlemen,” you smiled. “I believe this is the bit where I make my escape.”

“Of course,” Steve smiled at you as he crossed the room to open the window. “We’ll see you at the meeting.”

You held his hand as he guided you out of the window.

“Exactly how is that gonna go down?” Clint asked. “Are you going to tell Tony about this, or…”

“Nah,” you replied. “I figured we’d just do what we normally do and see how long it takes him to notice.”

“It’s going to be lots of fun,” Steve replied. “Pretty sure he’s not going to know who to trust ever again after this.”

“I happen to think you’re a very trustworthy person,” you replied with a smile.

“Yeah, I don't think Tony will see it the way you do.”

You shrugged. “His problem.”

Your eyes connected with Steve’s, and he smiled at you before softly saying “Later, little bird.”

“Captain,” you replied with a smile.

You looked into his eyes a moment longer before dropping from his window ledge and beginning your climb down the tower.

* * *

“Everyone in the meeting room, right now,” Tony’s voice called over the speakers. 

“Uh oh,” Steve smirked. “I think we might be in trouble.” The two of them had been chatting in Steve’s room for the last hour or so, discussing Steve’s involvement in every break in. Clint seemed to find the whole thing twice as funny now that he knew Steve was the traitor.

Clint grinned. “Only if we got caught. And if that girl’s as good as she seems, then there’s no chance of that.”

“There might be if we don’t show up. Come on,” Steve stood. 

The two of them walked to the meeting room together. As they arrived, Clint winked at Steve and then walked straight into the room, arms spread wide. “Alright, tell me the news. Who is the traitor? Who did it? I’ve been dying to know since I found out we had one.”

Tony looked at Steve, who shrugged. “He’s clean.”

“Well it wasn’t these two,” Tony said. “Which means…” he turned to Bruce and Sam.

“Wasn’t us,” Bruce said. “Sam didn’t do anything.”

“Bruce did lots of science, but that’s all,” Sam added.

Tony took in a deep breath.

“Wait, so he got in?” Clint asked.

“Yes,” Tony replied. “He got in. Apparently without help.”

Steve shrugged. “Or there’s several traitors.”

“Do not even start on me with that, Steve. But guess what? We have a meeting with the guy tomorrow, so I suppose we’ll just have to ask him."

Bucky looked up. “He accepted?”

“Yep. On the condition that we don’t turn him in, which we already agreed not to, excepting this one,” he pointed to Steve.

Steve held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “If he comes here to help us take down A.I.M., then I promise I will not turn him in.”

“Good, then that’s agreed,” Tony stated. “We meet with the guy tomorrow, and I’m telling you, I fully intend to uncover our traitor in that meeting.”

Clint grinned, eyes flicking to Steve. “Oh, I can’t wait.”


	12. Chapter 12

You sat on a high shelf in the meeting room, hidden in the shadows and watching as the Avengers gathered below. Most of them were completely unaware of your presence. Steve knew, of course - he’d let you in. Clint had spotted you the moment he entered, cradling a giant bowl of popcorn in his arms. You pressed a finger to your lips and winked. He had smiled, moved a chair to the wall at the back of the room and sat himself down.

“What are you doing, Clint?” Tony asked.

“Getting ready for the show,” Clint grinned. “We’re about to meet the thief and probably find out who the traitor is, and I intend to enjoy it.”

Tony sighed, rubbing his temples. “You sure it’s not him?” he asked Steve.

“Certain.”

You smiled, watching the scene unfold below. Natasha entered and immediately pulled up a chair next to Clint’s, helping herself to a handful of popcorn. “I cannot tell you how long I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Meeting Robin?” Clint asked. “I didn’t think you cared that much.”

“Not meeting Robin,” Natasha grinned. “Watching you lot finally work out who our traitor is.”

“Wait, you know?” Clint asked.

Natasha sniffed. “Of course I know. I’m a spy. I exist to uncover secrets. You can’t hide anything from me.”

Tony glared at her. “And you never said anything?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?” Tony pressed.

She grinned. “Because it’s amazing.”

“Where is this dude, anyway?” Sam asked. “I thought he was meeting us here ten minutes ago.”

Clint laughed.

“What?” Sam asked. “What’s so funny.”

You grinned. “Clint here is the only one who thought to look up.”

A silence fell over the room as everyone turned to stare at you.

“Wait,” Tony started “ _You’re_ Robin?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” you asked with a smile.

“No, of course not,” he replied. “You’re just not exactly what I expected. How did you get up there?”

“I climbed,” you responded before dropping off the shelf, landing neatly next to Steve. “I hear you need me to help you break into a secret warehouse to steal something which I assume is of great value.”

The gathered Avengers nodded their agreement.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what this something is?”

Steve met your eyes. “It’s information that will help us prevent mass murders, possibly terrorist attacks and likely the end of the world.”

“Good enough for me,” you decided.

You were interrupted by Bucky’s laughter. “Alright, I’m with you,” he grinned at Clint as he moved his chair over to sit next to them. “Gimme,” He took some popcorn and leant back in his chair. “Oh, please, continue,” Bucky added, noticing the people staring at him.

You turned back to Tony, who was narrowing his eyes at Bucky. “You’ve got blueprints, right?”

Tony grumbled something under his breath and turned back to the touch screen embedded into the table, and soon displayed a hologram of the warehouse in question.

“And this is running your security systems?”

Tony nodded. “Not quite the level we’re running, but we can’t guarantee they haven’t made their own alterations.” He looked back at you. “Not that our updates seem to be keeping you out.”

“I’ve had inside help getting in here,” you spoke. “Which is not something you’re going to have.”

“About that, do you mind telling me exactly who’s ass I need to kick?” 

You smiled. “Figure it out, smart guy. There’s a little club over here that already has,” you pointed to the three Avengers currently munching on popcorn.

Tony stared at you. You just grinned and turned back to the blueprints. 

“Alright, so where are our alarmed sections?” you muttered, stepping forward to alter the view. 

“We spent a while on this the other day,” Bruce informed you. “We don’t know if there’s even a way to get in.”

“There’s always a way in,” you responded. “You just gotta find it.” You squinted slightly, taking a moment to go over the entrances to the building. “There,” you pointed, “They haven’t alarmed all the windows on the top floor. You can get in that window, then hack the system here.”

“Right,” Steve leaned forward. “We think they’ll be keeping the…” he looked at you. “Keeping _it_ here. So how do we get Nat from here to here undetected?”

“Well there’s security panels here, here, here…” 

The two of you fell into an easy rhythm of planning. After all, you had planned countless break-ins to the tower together. At this point, it came naturally to the two of you. Once it became clear that you and Steve were quite capable of coming up with a plan between the two of you, the other Avengers stepped back.

“This is great,” Clint muttered, downing another handful of popcorn.

“I know,” Bucky murmured back. “I didn’t really think…”

“Okay, someone please tell us who the damn traitor is?” Sam groaned. “You three are doing my head in.”

“I second that motion,” Tony agreed.

“Aren’t you meant to be a genius?” you asked.

Tony opened his mouth as though he was about to respond, but soon closed it. 

You turned back to Steve, who smiled at you before turning back to the blueprints. You nearly laughed at the amused look in his eyes. Steve was having way too much fun right now.

“Think about this, Tony,” Natasha spoke. “I know because I’m a spy and that’s what I do. But how do these two know?”

Tony’s eyes landed on Clint. “C’mon, Clint doesn’t know. He just wants a show.”

“Tony, I know,” Clint replied with a grin. “I also know how much money Nat could have won if she placed a bet,” He looked pointedly at her.

“Are you kidding?” Nat sniffed. “I feel like a proud Mama bear over here. I couldn’t go around casting suspicion on him. It’d ruin everything.”

Clint chuckled. “Fair call.” He turned back to Tony. “I do know.”

“But… how?”

Bucky laughed. “Read the room, Tony. It’s right in front of you.”

Tony turned back to where you and Steve were both leant over the table. You flashed him a smile before turning back to your discussion with Steve regarding potential guards in the warehouse and the best way to avoid them.

Tony stared at the two of you, eyes moving between you and Steve as his jaw slowly dropped open. “Oh, hell no.”

“I think you forgot to ask someone something last night, Tony,” Natasha grinned.

“Clint,” Tony spoke slowly, eyes not leaving Steve. “What did Steve get up to last night, exactly?”

“Well,” Clint started, “We were just talking, then Steve said he wanted to get something from his room. So we went there, and Steve pulled that girl through his window and then I watched as she took down all your security systems and Steve walked her through the alarmed sections so F.R.I.D.A.Y. turned off whenever she was there.”

A silence fell over the room, and everyone turned to look at Steve, who was openly smirking now.

Sam was the first to start laughing. “Steve, you little bitch!”

“I don’t believe this,” Tony muttered.

“I do,” Clint grinned, tossing Bucky an envelope.

“Yes!” Bucky held his winnings above his head. “Told you that man was a mischievous little shit.”

“Well _he_ knows you well,” you grinned, turning to Steve.

Steve just laughed.

“I cannot even tell you how betrayed I am feeling right now,” Tony muttered. “And look at him, he’s so damn proud of himself.” Tony looked up. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., what suit do you think would be required to kick Steve’s ass? I’m thinking the Mark 39 would do nicely.”

“Might I suggest the Mark 42, boss?” came the reply.

Tony turned back to Steve. “What do you, think? 39 or 42?”

Steve smirked. “You haven’t built the suit you’d need to kick my ass, Tony.”

Tony considered this. “See, I know you meant that as an insult, but you’re right. This calls for a whole new suit. I promise, you’ll know when it’s done. Also, am I the only one who heard Steve say ‘ass’?”

“Hang on, I thought we agreed that it couldn’t be Steve,” Bruce interrupted. “Isn’t he a terrible liar?”

“I never actually lied,” Steve grinned.

“You said we should turn her in,” Sam replied.

“I said that would be the correct thing to do, not that I had any intention of doing it.”

“You put money on _me_ ,” Bucky laughed.

“Well that’s just good cover, isn’t it?” Steve smiled.

“Alright, everyone shut it,” Tony interrupted. “I have questions. Like how the hell did Captain America over there team up with a criminal?”

“You know how I broke in on the night of your big party and robbed you?” You asked.

Tony hesitated. “Yes.”

“I bumped into her in the elevator,” Steve smiled. “She told me she was there to rob you. I didn’t believe her.”

“You what?”

“I didn’t think she was serious!” Steve defended. “So then when I didn’t turn her in she started using my quarters as a point of entry and things just kind of snowballed.”

“Seriously? You’ve been protecting her all this time? Why?” Tony asked.

“You keep telling me to loosen up and have a little fun. I was just taking your advice.”

“I meant get a hobby!” Tony cried. “Or a girlfriend!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he did,” Nat spoke with a sly grin.

“Oh yeah, he did,” Bucky grinned. “I haven’t seen him look at a girl like that since Peggy.”

Clint started choking on a piece of popcorn. “Wait,” he coughed. “You two?” He pointed between the two of you.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “You know, for a guy with such great eyesight you really are blind.”

Tony groaned. “So you started sleeping with her as well? Damn, Cap, I’m almost proud of you.” Tony hesitated. “You are getting some, right?”

You laughed at the shade of Steve’s face. “I think you’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Good, I deserve revenge for the time he’s spent laughing at me behind my back,” Tony smiled. “Hang on, if you two have been getting freaky…” Tony trailed off. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., did you know about this?”

“I did, boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“My protocols only require me to report break-ins. Steve let her into his room, so I did not have to tell you.”

“Sure, you didn’t have to, but you still should have done it, so why didn’t you?”

“Because it was funny.”

“You’re an A.I.,” Tony cried. “You can’t find things funny!”

“If she’s got a sense of humour it’s probably because you put it there,” you mused.

“I… okay, that one’s on me, but this is just ridiculous. Is there anything else anyone wants to tell me? Might as well rub salt in the wound while it’s fresh.”

A mischievous smile played on your lips. “Steve likes Apple products.”

Tony’s jaw dropped. “Steve! I thought you were just terrible technology.”

“They’re user friendly, okay?” Steve defended. He turned to you. “I thought you weren’t going to tell him that.”

“Well, maybe now you’ll actually read the book I got you.”

Tony looked between the two of you. “What book?”

You started chuckling.

Steve sighed. “ _Stark Tech for Seniors_.”

The room burst into laughter.

“You know what?” Tony pointed at you, “You’re forgiven.”

“Forgiven?” Sam laughed. “This girl’s my new best friend.”

“Nope, I already claimed her,” Clint replied.

“Careful, boys,” Steve smirked. “That’s my best girl you’re fighting over.”

“Oh really?” you smiled, raising your eyebrows at Steve. “You getting a little possessive there, Captain?”

“Can you blame me?” he asked with a smile, meeting your eyes. “I think I liked having you all to myself.”

“Was that flirting?” Tony asked. “Is that how Steve flirts? I genuinely can’t tell.”

“You know, I love a good love story just as much as the next girl - especially one involving Steve and a criminal - and I’m absolutely going to hear all about it later,” Natasha said with a smile, “But I thought you two were making sure I don’t get killed by A.I.M. when I break in.”

“Right,” Steve gestured to the blueprints. “Shall we?”

The two of you returned to your planning, slowly coming up with a plan that was close to foolproof. The Avengers watched in wonder as they realised just how adept Steve had become at helping you plan to break into a building. 

When you were done, you turned back to Tony, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Exactly how many times have you planned a break-in to this tower together?”

“I don’t think you really want me to answer that, Tony,” Steve smirked.

“It’s a lot,” you clarified with a smile. “He’s very helpful, you know.”

“Of course he is,” Tony sighed.

“Excuse me, boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted. “There is some news footage you should see. Playing now.”

The blueprints disappeared from the hologram, which now instead showed New York, where a group of people in yellow suits were gathered around a large device.

Tony swore. Steve stood taller, his jaw set and muscles tensed. It was as though you could see him transform into Captain America before your eyes. “That what I think it is?” he asked.

“It’s a scrambler,” Tony confirmed. “We need to get down there now. F.R.I.D.A.Y., prepare the jet.”

“Already done, boss.”

“Alright, we need to move,” Steve spoke. “We’ll suit up on the way.” He turned to you. “We’ll have someone take you home and we can continue this when we get back.”

“Ah, no,” you spoke. “Am I right in assuming that that’s nearly every soldier A.I.M. has in New York?”

“Yes,” Steve spoke slowly.

“So the warehouse is going to be next to empty.”

Steve hesitated. “We can’t send Nat in right now. You’re right in that it’s a great time to do it, but we need you to teach her how you hack-”

“I wasn’t going to suggest you send Nat.”

Steve spoke your name gently, as though he knew where you were going with this and wanted no part in it.

“Whatever it is that you need to get is obviously important,” you said. “If I get in there right now, we can avoid doing it when there’s an entire army in that warehouse.”

“I need you to be safe.”

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on here,” you gestured to the screen, “But I know that it scares the hell out of you. So tell me this, Steve. Am I safe anywhere in New York while this is going down?”

Steve sighed. “No.”

“I’m gonna get down there now,” Tony decided. “See if I can’t hold them off till you arrive.”

“I’ll come,” Sam added.

“Let’s get to the jet,” Clint added. “I’ll get a message to Wanda and Vision while we wait,” he told Steve.

Steve turned to you as people started filing out. Natasha stayed, arms folded over her chest and watching the two of you.

“This isn’t some rich businessperson,” Steve told you. “If these guys find you, they won’t just turn you in. They won’t even just kill you. These guys will experiment on your body until you die, slowly and painfully.”

You looked into his eyes. “Can you possibly tell me that if our roles were reversed, you wouldn’t be doing this? You wouldn’t risk your life to save others?”

“That’s different.”

“No it’s not.”

“You’re not a fighter.”

“So I won’t be seen.”

“I’ll go with her,” Natasha interrupted.

Steve turned to look at her.

Nat continued. “If we come across any problems, I can take them down. If not, I know how to stay hidden.”

Steve looked back to you and sighed. “I want you to know that I am completely against this plan of yours.”

“Noted.”

Steve leaned down to kiss you, before muttering. “If you die on me, I will kill you. You got that?”

“I love you, too,” the words tumbled out of your mouth before you realised exactly what you were saying.

Steve froze, his eyes meeting yours.

“Steve!” Clint called from the hallway. “We gotta go!”

“Right,” Steve took one last look at you and left the room.

“He’s right, you know,” Natasha told you softly. “You didn’t sign up for this, and these guys will literally tear your body apart in the name of science if they get the chance. No one will blame you for backing down.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” you spoke. “Can you please send the blueprints to my phone?”

“It is done,” she replied.

You turned to Natasha. “Let’s do this.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings/spoilers: Contains canon typical violence and character injuries.

You and Natasha stood on the pavement, gazing up at the four story warehouse the Avengers suspected A.I.M. had been hiding out in.

“That window’s the only way in, huh?” Natasha asked.

“No, but it’s the only one we can get into and turn off the alarm systems without anyone noticing. Guess they figured no one would be insane enough to climb four stories to get there.”

“It is high. You can get up there?”

“Please, I climb ten stories to Steve’s window all the time. Four is a piece of cake.”

“Just checking. I don’t want to be the person who has to tell Steve you fell to your death.” She pressed a finger to her earpiece. “What’s the situation out there?”

“You were right,” Steve’s voice in your ear caused you to jump. This whole earpiece thing was going to take some getting used to.

“Almost the whole of A.I.M. is here,” he continued, “And we’ve got them distracted.” _Crash. Thud._ “Go do your thing.”

“Lead the way,” Nat told you.

You didn’t hesitate before running towards the building and grabbing hold of the first window ledge. You pulled yourself up and jumped sideways to the next window before continuing your climb. If there was something you’d learned breaking into buildings, it was that there was always a way to climb them. As you went you found windows, broken bricks and other foot and hand holds to continue your ascent. Natasha followed closely behind you, sometimes following your path and sometimes creating her own.

Once you arrived at the window in question, you slipped your lock picks out of your pocket and got to work. It wasn’t long before the lock clicked open, and you slid the window up and softly dropped through. Nat followed after.

“You girls okay?” You jumped at Steve’s voice.

“Seriously, Cap,” you whispered. “It’s hard to break into places when people keep interrupting.”

“Sorry, I’m just worried.”

“Don’t you have some nut jobs to beat up?” You found the security panel you were looking for and connected your phone.

“I can multi-task.” _Thud._

“Don’t worry, Cap,” Natasha spoke. “Your girl’s got skills. We’re in the building. Just keep ‘em busy for us.”

“Got it.”

Your phone buzzed. You nodded at Natasha and bought the blueprints to the building up on your phone. You started leading the way through corridors, sneaking down the stairs to the next level. You stopped suddenly behind a doorway. 

Nat glanced at you, eyebrows raised. In response, you held up two fingers, and pointed to where you’d seen the guards. She nodded, squeezed your shoulder and snuck passed you. A few moments later, she returned and waved you through.

You entered the room, finding the two guards knocked out.

“Better move quick,” Natasha whispered, “Before someone finds these two.”

You nodded, and hastily continued on your path through the building, stopping occasionally to take down security in different areas. Eventually you arrived in what looked to be a large lab. Natasha knocked out another guard before she swiftly moved to the computers and plugged in a USB. “We’re in the lab,” she spoke. “Bruce, what am I looking for?”

“The device we have was called Scramble 2.0, so anything related,” Bruce spoke through your earpiece. “They could well be using a third version right now.”

“On it.”

While Natasha started sorting through files on the computers, you went poking around the lab. You flipped through some files, found a rather disturbing diagram which showed the best way to torture someone, and eventually came across an empty vial, labelled Scramble 4.0 prototype.

“Hey, Bruce?” You asked. “I’ve got a vial here labelled Scramble 4.0. Is that what you’re looking for?”

“What’s in it?” Bruce asked.

“Looks like nothing, but it’s capped. Says prototype here.”

“Bring it back,” Bruce instructed, “But don’t open it. It’s a gas. And definitely don’t drop it.”

You carefully took the vial, and grabbed a manilla folder labelled Scramble Formula Theories that you noticed next to it.

“I’ve got the formulae downloading now,” Natasha said. “If you find any other vials, grab them,” she hesitated. “And protect them with your life.”

You nodded, and continued your search. 

“So,” Natasha started, “About Steve. You know, I’ve been trying to get him to date for forever, and you seem to have brought out a side of him that I’ve never actually seen and I absolutely love it, so please don’t take this the wrong way, but he’s very important to me, so…”

“If I break his heart, you’ll break my face?” you asked with a slight smile. You found another vial labelled 4.2 and collected it.

“I was actually thinking an arm, or maybe a leg, but… yeah.”

You chuckled softly. “Got it.”

“You two know that I can hear you, right?” Steve’s voice came through your earpiece.

“Hush, Captain,” you smiled. “You’re interrupting girl time.”

“Oh, is that what you call breaking into buildings now?”

“No, breaking into buildings is my hobby. Doing it with another woman makes it girl time.”

“Then what is it when I help you break in?”

“Date night,” you replied, grabbing another vial labelled 5.0.

You could hear Steve chuckle through the earpiece.

“Are you two always like this?” Tony’s voice asked.

“Pretty much,” you replied. 

“Yep,” Steve agreed cheerfully. _Crunch. Bang._

Deciding that the lab had been thoroughly searched, you returned to Natasha. “Do I want to know what these do?”

“Probably not,” Nat replied, “But like Bruce said, don’t drop them.” 

You were interrupted by the sound of alarms. Nat looked up. “Shit. They know we’re here.” She pulled the USB from the computer and turned to you. “Got a plan to get us out of here?”

“Yep,” you replied. “Run.” 

The two of you took off at a sprint. Natasha pulled a gun and started shooting the guards you came across. As you went, the guards seemed to multiply, the lower levels swarming. “Damn,” Nat shoved the USB into your pocket. “Get those things out of here. I’ll keep them busy.”

You nodded, and raced off on your own, making sure to carry the vials carefully. God, these things better be important. Just the act of carrying them meant you couldn’t jump out of a window like you usually would in this situation. 

“What’s going on down there?” Steve asked, his voice laced with worry.

You ignored him and ducked into an alcove to let a guard past, and ran back out as soon as you could. You realised that he’d heard you a moment too late, after you heard the bang and felt a searing pain in your shoulder. No time to stop now, you decided. The adrenaline would keep you going at least a little while longer.

“Ladies?” Tony spoke. “You alive?”

“Can’t talk,” you puffed. “Trying to escape.”

“We’re going to need backup here,” Nat’s voice came through the speaker this time.

“I’m on my way,” came Steve’s reply. 

“I’ll give you a lift,” Tony spoke. “Vision and Wanda should be getting here any moment now, anyway.”

You made it to the ground floor. You knew there was a back exit to an alleyway somewhere around here, you just had to find it. You took a moment to wipe your palms on your pants. Sweat was not helping you hold these vials any better.

You looked around at your surroundings, trying to pick exactly where you were while ignoring the growing pain in your shoulder. As you did, Natasha appeared behind you. “Let’s go,” she insisted. 

You started leading the way. You were nearly to the exit when three guards appeared in front of you. Nat raced forward as you heard the gunshots. All you could do was turn so that your back faced them instead of the vials. 

You winced at the new stinging sensations and fought off a wave of nausea. You backed up to a wall to stop for a moment, trying to breathe through the pain. You needed to get this stuff out of here. Before you passed out. You forced yourself to stand upright, ignoring the sensation of dizziness.

“Cap, where are you?” Nat spoke once she took down the final guard. “Robin’s been hit.”

Steve actually swore through the comms, and you managed a smile. “Language, Cap,” you coughed.

Nat pulled your arm over her shoulders to help you move. She fired a couple of shots behind her as you went. “I thought all these guys were meant to be hanging out with you,” Nat spoke through the coms.

You looked behind you to see several guards emerging from the corridors. Nat moved to place you on the ground just the door was blasted in and a shield flew past, hitting each of the guards in the face. 

Steve caught the shield as he stepped through the doorway, while Natasha and Tony raced forward to distract the guards. “Get her out of here,” Tony said.

“That’s the plan,” Steve replied. Your vision blurred slightly as you watched him kneel next to you.

“Hey there, Captain America,” you managed, lifting the vials. “I hope these are important.”

You winced as Steve put his arms under you, lifting with ease. “Put it this way, you may have just saved the world. Let’s get you to a hospital.”

“I’m fine.”

“No you’re not. You’re running on pure adrenaline right now.” Steve moved as fast as he could without hurting you. He stepped through the doorway and started moving through an alleyway.

“I’ll get Doctor Cho to set up here,” Bruce said.

“I’m not sure we’ve got time for that,” Steve muttered.

You blinked, fighting to keep your eyes open. “Okay, maybe I’m not exactly fine,” you admitted.

“You think?” he asked.

“I think I might sleep now.”

“Oh no, you don’t. Stay with me,” he instructed, moving faster. 

“Steve, I…” your voice trailed off. “Don’t kill me?”

His eyes connected with yours. “I have no intentions of letting you die on me.”

“Mmkay,” you whispered, feeling your eyes slowly close before everything went black.

* * *

  
Steve sat on an uncomfortable hospital chair, turning the vials over in his hands and pointedly ignoring the stares he was getting from the people walking through the hospital hallways.

He stood up when Tony arrived, carrying a silver briefcase. Tony placed the case on a chair and took the vials from Steve. “Any news?” he asked, placing the vials carefully into the padded inside of the case.

“Not yet,” Steve replied. “I should never have-”

“This is not your fault, Steve,” Tony interrupted. “She made her choice. And this stuff is definitely going to help us come up with some kind of anti-scrambler. She did well.”

“Yeah, apart from getting shot.”

Tony closed the briefcase as a Doctor approached them. Steve immediately stood taller, turning to the man. 

“Captain,” he greeted, “Mr. Stark.” He turned back to Steve. “Your friend is going to be fine. She’s unconscious, but she’s stable.”

Steve let out a heavy sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“We are going to need you to answer some questions about this case, though.”

Steve warily looked to Tony.

“Of course,” Tony replied. “She was helping us with a mission, she got shot, and we can’t tell you anything else in the interest of public safety. In fact, if she’s stable, we’d like to move her to our own facilities. Not that you haven’t done an excellent job, of course, but we’d feel more comfortable that way.”

“Yes, fine,” the Doctor replied. “But it’s not me who wants to ask the questions. Um,” he glanced behind Steve.

Steve turned to see a woman in a suit approaching. 

“This is-” the Doctor started.

“Agent Nilson,” Tony finished. “F.B.I. We’ve met. What can we do for you, Agent?”

“I want to know who that girl is, how you came into contact with her and why she was breaking into a warehouse while you were off fighting A.I.M.”

“Well, apparently that’s Steve’s girlfriend,” Tony replied. “I didn’t know he had one until today, so forgive me for being a little sketchy on the details. He met her…” Tony looked to Steve. 

“At a cafe,” Steve provided. “She works there.”

“Right,” Tony continued. “And we can’t disclose any information about the mission.”

“We can get a warrant.”

“Feel free,” Tony replied. “Do you mind me asking what this is about?”

Agent Nilson shifted. “I’m going to be straight with you, gentlemen. We have been keeping an eye on the tower ever since you were robbed, and we have reason to believe that your girlfriend,” she looked at Steve, “Is Robin.”

“How much reason?” Tony questioned.

“A lot more now that I’ve seen the footage from the A.I.M. warehouse.” She held up a piece of paper. “I have the arrest warrant right here.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. She always erased the footage. Always… Except that she had just been shot he pulled her out of there before she had the chance to delete all records of her presence in that building. Dammit, he should have thought about that. He glanced at Tony.

“Don’t say a word,” Tony instructed, pulling out his phone. “I’m calling my lawyers.” He turned away to make the call.

“So…” the Doctor began. “Are you still moving her? Or…”

“Yes, we’ll have someone come,” Steve said.

“You can’t-”

“She’s innocent until proven guilty, Agent,” Steve replied, making sure to craft his words carefully so he didn’t make the situation any worse. “And she needs to recover.”

Tony returned to the small group, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Lawyers will meet us at the Compound,” he spoke. “We’re going to move her to the hospital facility there. You can do your thing once she’s healed.”

Agent Nilson glanced at Tony. “Not so long ago, you were helping me find Robin. Now you’re protecting her?”

“I don’t know about Robin,” Tony spoke, “I’m just protecting a woman who risked her life to help us stop what could otherwise have become a global epidemic. I respect what you do, Agent, but in this case, I’m afraid I’m going to have to be less than helpful. As far as I’m concerned, she’s one of us now. And I look out for my own.” 

Agent Nilson raised her eyebrows at that. “Right, well, I have some files to see to. I’ll be seeing you soon, gentlemen.” 

“We’ll get her out of this,” Tony murmured to Steve. “Somehow.”

“Thank you,” Steve responded.

Tony smirked. “Don’t thank me, Steve. I’m doing this for her - I still think you’re a traitorous little shit. And I am absolutely going to build that suit.”


	14. Chapter 14

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

You groaned at the infuriating noise. Without opening your eyes, you croaked out. “Will someone stop that infernal beeping?”

“That would be your heartbeat,” Steve’s voice replied. “And I’d rather it didn’t stop.”

With great effort, you lifted your heavy eyelids to see him.

“Hey there, little bird,” he smiled sadly, placing what looked like a sketchbook on the table next to him. “Try not to move too much. You’ve been through a lot.”

You groaned again, and Steve moved to lift the back of the bed up so that you were lying on a more upright angle and got you a glass of water.

“Where are we?” you asked, taking a sip of water.

“We’re in the new Avengers Compound,” Steve explained. “Hospital facilities here are better than the tower.”

You let your head fall back onto the pillow. “What happened?”

“The vials you recovered, and that folder,” he started. “They were the plans and prototypes for a number of DNA scrambling devices. A.I.M. was planning to use them to change everyone’s DNA once they’d perfected the formula. Something about creating a better human race. It was never going to work, everyone would have died. But the stuff you grabbed helped Tony and Bruce come up with a counter-formula. And, while we were at it, we took down the entirety of the U.S. branch of A.I.M.”

“That’s great,” you muttered. “So what’s got you looking so grumpy?”

Steve sighed, “When you passed out, we had to make a fast decision. We brought you to a public hospital to stabilise you before you were transferred here. As it turns out, if Captain America shows up in a public hospital with a woman who has three gunshot wounds and a handful of toxic gas people start to ask questions. Some folks at the F.B.I. seem to have gotten it into their heads that you’re some kind of master thief who’s stolen billions of dollars and donated it to charity.”

“Oh, is that all,” you smiled. “Where do you think they got that idea from?”

“Apparently they’ve been watching the tower. And they got hold of some security footage from that warehouse. I’m afraid I may have led them right to you,” he admitted.

“It’s not your fault, Steve. Really, I was bound to get caught eventually.”

Steve shook his head. “We convinced them to let you stay on house arrest at least until you heal, but we’re kind of uncertain after that. You don’t deserve to go to prison, though. Certainly not after this.”

“I have to, it’s the law,” you chuckled. “You think I didn’t know what I was getting into when I started all this?”

“I don’t have to like it,” Steve replied. He looked up at you. “I told Liz. Figured it’d be better for her to hear it from me than the news.”

You nodded. “How’d she take it?”

“She laughed, said that it explained a lot and that we were a match made in heaven. I think the last bit may have been sarcasm.”

You smiled and glanced behind him, eyes landing on the sketchbook. “Were you drawing?”

“Yeah,” he picked up the book and showed you the open page containing the pencil outline of a bird. “It’s you.”

You grinned. “It’s cute.”

He placed the sketchbook down and moved to sit on the edge of your bed. You shifted a little, wincing at the pain, and allowed him to sit next to you, his arm around your shoulders. “Check this out, you’ll like this one,” he murmured. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you please let the others know that our little bird is awake?”

“Of course, traitorous scumbag,” came the reply.

You let out a laugh.

“Tony reprogrammed her to call me that at every opportunity,” Steve explained. “He also confiscated my iPad, so thanks for that.”

“Read the book,” you replied. “The StarkPad is more versatile anyway.”

“So you keep saying,” he spoke, running a hand through his hair. “You had me really worried for a while there,” he admitted.

“Sorry,” you responded. “On the bright side, there’s a lot less chance of me being shot in prison.”

“We’re not going to let you go to prison,” he responded. “We’re going to find a way out of this. I promise.”

* * *

“What do you mean, there’s nothing we can do?” Steve stared at Tony.

Tony shrugged. “I mean there’s nothing we can do. It’s a clear case, Steve. Unless she decides to plead innocent, I-”

“She won’t,” Steve sighed. “She has a moral objection to lying. And I’m pretty sure that would only increase under oath.”

Tony hesitated. “She has an objection to lying but not stealing?”

“Yeah, I questioned it too.”

Tony shrugged. “I have tried every argument I could think of. I even tried to convince them to let her become an Avenger. Bottom line is, she’s being convicted for theft. No matter what else she’s done, how many people she’s saved, she’s stolen a lot of money and pissed off a lot of powerful people.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Well, we have some time before they move her to the prison, so I’d suggest you start by making the most of that time. Then… I’ve already booked a press conference for the day they plan on transferring her. The government seem to think they’ll be able to get away with publicising the fact that she got caught and keeping everything else that’s happened quiet. I say we ruin that plan. They don’t want to listen to us, but if we can get the general public on our side, we might have a bit more pull.”

“And how do you propose we do that?”

Tony grinned. “Actually, I was hoping you might help. Nothing gets people talking like a celebrity scandal.”

A sly smirk appeared on Steve’s lips. “What did you have in mind?”

* * *

You spent the next few weeks slowly healing from your injuries. As much as being confined to your bed was a bummer, it wasn’t so bad being confined to a bed with the Avengers around.

Steve, of course, spent nearly all of his time with you, but the others would come in when they had spare time as well. Natasha got all of the gossip on your relationship with Steve, Clint listened to every story you could tell about your past robberies with great interest (though stories about your break-ins to the tower were his favourites,) and Bucky and Sam just came in to tease Steve about finally getting a girl. You had even worked with Tony on a new and improved security system.

Eventually, however, your time in the Compound came to an end. Agent Nilson had arrived with some police officers and handcuffed your hands behind your back. Steve appeared as you made your way through the hallways, his arm curling around your waist between your arms and your back. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” you told him.

“Too bad,” he smirked. “Tony and I thought we’d give the PR guys some trouble.”

You raised your eyebrows. “What kind of trouble, exactly?”

“If everything goes to plan, the kind that will cause an international debate. If we can’t stop you from going to prison, we’re at least going to make it awfully messy.”

“Remember when I told you that I didn’t want your image destroyed because of me?”

Steve grinned. “Remember when I told you I didn’t want you getting hurt by my enemies?”

“I just hope you’re not planning on doing anything stupid.”

“Of course I am,” he looked down at you, a mischievous glint in his eye. “How do you feel about PDA?”

“How do you even know what that-” you stopped. “Tony?”

“Nat,” he replied. “Don’t ask.”

“Right. Why?”

He leaned closer to you. “Because this is about to get a lot more public.”

The doors to the Compound opened, revealing a crowd of media, paparazzi and spectators. You blinked as a sea of cameras flashed at you.

“Welcome to the spotlight, little bird,” Steve murmured into your ear.

“They here for me or you?” You asked.

“Mainly you,” he responded. “But I don’t think me being here is really helping.”

The policemen flanked you, and slowly you made your way through the crowd to a police car. Once you reached it, Steve turned to you, put a hand on the back of your neck and pulled you to him, crushing his lips to yours in a passionate kiss - and he held nothing back. His hand rested on your cheek, his tongue slipping into your mouth and drawing a soft whimper from you as you wished that you could move your hands to his chest, or his neck, or his hair, or just anywhere that wasn’t pinned behind your back.  


Eventually, he pulled away just enough to look into your eyes, but no further.

“You’re right,” you said softly, “That was stupid.”

“All part of the plan,” he muttered, leaning in to kiss you again. His lips lingered on yours until Agent Nilson made a polite coughing noise behind you.

You took the hint, pulling back. “I have to go to jail now.”

“I’ll come see you soon,” Steve responded.

“The last thing Captain America needs is to be seen visiting a convicted felon,” you told him.

“You see those cameras?” he asked, pointing behind him. “This is all live,” he grinned. “I think my image is already sufficiently ruined.”

“You’re an idiot,” you told him.

“I love you, too,” he responded with a smile, leaning down to press his lips to yours once more before you were guided into the back of a car and taken away.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Steve was watching as Tony stood in the press room of the Avengers Compound. 

“So,” he said, “My PR guys wrote me this little speech. Even gave me flashcards,” he held them up. “Frankly, I don’t know why they bothered, because I’ve never listened to them before and I have no intention of starting now.” He tossed the flashcards behind him, drawing laughter from the crowd.

“I pride myself on being the sort of person who tells the truth like it is,” he continued. “Without the spin on it from PR. So here’s the truth as I see it.

“Most of you are aware of a high profile criminal known as Robin, who has spent the last four years stealing ridiculous amounts of money and donating it to charity. You also know that she was arrested after she helped the Avengers take down the U.S. branch of A.I.M. But here’s what the authorities haven’t told you.

“When Robin broke into that warehouse, she was fully aware of the danger she was in. She took on this mission in order to recover a formula that would help us to safely deactivate a series of chemical bombs that have recently threatened several major cities around the world. She not only helped to retrieve the formula, but she also found the plans for future formulae and several samples of the gas that A.I.M. were planning on putting in future bombs. She then proceeded to attempt to escape the warehouse while carrying several vials of a highly toxic gas. Just by carrying them, she was risking her life. During her escape, she was shot three times. 

“Because of this, we were given no choice but to take her straight to a local hospital in order to get her stabilised. Authorities were then able to identify her as the criminal known as Robin. She was arrested in the hospital, and has been living on house arrest in the Compound while she healed from her injuries. 

“This woman nearly sacrificed her life retrieving these items in order to keep the world safe. But she _has_ sacrificed her freedom, which, I’m sure my friend Captain America would have you believe,” Tony glanced up at Steve and smiled, “Is much worse. Of course, after the events earlier today, many of us would agree that Steve might be biased in this particular case.”

The statement was meant with more chuckling from the crowd.

“Just as a side note, there’s a lot of questions and theories about that so let me clear this up for you; yes, they were together before she got shot, and no, I don’t believe Steve has any intention of dumping her while she’s imprisoned.”

Tony glanced at Steve once more, who shook his head with a smile.

“But what I really wanted to say today is this; many of the people on this team are trying to right their wrongs, and we believe that Robin deserves the same chance. She’s not a fighter at all, but she makes a damn fine security expert, and her actions in the case of the A.I.M. warehouse speak for themselves. The Avengers have requested that the government consider allowing her to join our team instead of going to prison, but so far they have denied us. 

“To the authorities responsible for this decision, I am urging you to reconsider. This woman, yes, is a criminal. But - and I speak for all of the Avengers when I say this - she is as much of a hero as any of us.”


	15. Chapter 15

When Steve and Tony returned to the communal lounge in Avengers Tower, they found a group of Avengers sitting around, many of them browsing through social media on their devices. They had the news playing on the TV with the volume turned down, and Steve couldn’t help a smile when he saw that they were already debating Robin’s imprisonment.

As they entered, they were met with a round of applause from Clint. “Congratulations, boys, you’ve broken the internet.”

“That was the plan,” Tony responded, slipping onto the couch beside Clint.

“Yes, we figured,” Bucky spoke. “But what was that meant to achieve?” he pointed at the screen, where they were now showing footage of the scene in front of the police car, captioned _Captain America kisses Robin goodbye before she gets taken to prison…_

“That was to start the conversation,” Steve replied. “People love talking about celebrity scandals and celebrity romances. This counts as both.”

“You guys were trending within five minutes,” Nat informed them. “And then when Tony made his speech, things just got even more intense.”

“Media’s having a field day with this,” Clint spoke, he turned to his phone, scrolling through as he read out headlines. “ _Robin Hood: Hero or Villian?, The Newest Avenger: A Convicted Criminal, Cap’s World Famous Kiss…_ ”

“And that’s before you even get started on social media,” Sam added. “She’s suddenly got a whole lot of fans coming out of the woodwork, as well as the people she’s helped. And there’s a surprising amount of those.”

“The hashtag ‘I stand with Robin’ is trending in twenty-seven different countries,” Nat continued. “And counting.”

“And there’s a petition for her release,” Clint said. “I’ll tag you.” Clint started typing on his phone screen.

“So, this is a success then?” Steve asked.

“Yep,” Tony smiled. “Now we just wait for the higher ups to cave.”

* * *

A week later, Steve and Tony were making their way up the steps to the courthouse. “I’m going to be completely honest here,” Steve started. “I don’t really get the point of this.”

“Officially, we have a meeting with a judge and prosecution lawyer so that they can hear your girl’s case and consider our request.”

“I know that, but this is just a publicity stunt.” He adjusted his sunglasses. “If they actually wanted to consider this, then wouldn’t we have an actual hearing? And what exactly is the purpose of televising it? This is stupid. I vote we go straight to plan C.”

Tony chuckled. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were the goody-two-shoes of our group.” Tony glanced up at Steve. “They’re doing this to try and publicly embarrass us so that there’s less opposition when they inevitably tell us that she’s staying in prison. However, it’s broadcast live, so let’s turn the tables back on them, yeah? And after that it’s a win-win situation for us. Either they let her out, or we go to plan C.”

Steve considered. “I do like plan C.”

“I know you do. Come on, meeting’s about to start.”

Tony led Steve through the courthouse to the meeting room, and both men greeted the lawyer and judge they were meeting with a handshake before all four of them sat down around a table. Steve pointedly ignored the camera to his left, instead choosing to focus on people in front of him.

“We wanted to begin by thanking you for organising this meeting,” Tony began. “It means a lot to us that you would consider our request.”

“Well, we want to make sure that all sides of this argument are considered,” the lawyer began. “Would you tell us the reasoning for this specific request? Why Robin?”

“Robin has a very specific skill set,” Tony replied. “I work with actual super-spies, and she’s still the best hacker I’ve ever met and she can get in and out of buildings undetected in ways I would never have imagined. She’s the perfect stealth operative for missions which don’t involve fighting.”

“But how exactly would these skills be useful to the Avengers?”

“Are you aware that she broke into an A.I.M. warehouse, retrieved some very valuable items and therefore allowed us to create an antidote for a bunch of deadly chemical bombs?”

“Yes, the D.N.A. scramblers. Tell me, Mr. Stark, why haven’t I heard of them since the break in you speak of?”

“Because we did our jobs, that’s why,” Tony replied. “Robin got us the formulae and prototypes, we got into a lab, created the anti-scrambler and dispersed it to the government bomb squads. Which is why you haven’t heard of any of the seven bombs that have been safely deactivated since Robin was arrested.”

The lawyer hesitated. “Can you prove that?”

“Sure, I have the files right here,” Tony placed a StarkPad on the table and opened up the files in question. “Seven incidents, zero casualties.”

“But this is just one mission,” the lawyer continued. “How can you be sure you’ll need Robin’s skills again?”

“How do you know you’ll need any of us again?” Tony responded. “You could lock us all up, but you don’t, because you know that if there’s another alien invasion, for example, and there’s no one to stop it, we’re all screwed.”

“But you’re not convicted criminals.”

Tony smirked. “No we’re not, but shall we have a look at the history of our team? I was a war profiteer, this guy,” he pointed to Steve, “Began his military career by lying on his enlistment forms. We’ve got the Scarlet Witch, who was created by HYDRA, and not one, not two, but three assassins. Oh, and there’s also the giant green monster who literally smashes anything that makes him mad - which is actually quite a lot of things. Are you seriously going to tell me that letting Robin loose would be more dangerous than having any of the rest of us around?”

“She stole a lot of money from a lot of very important people.”

“She stole fifteen million dollars from me,” Tony pointed out. “You don’t see me wining about it.”

“You’re not upset that she stole from you?”

“Hell no. She did more good with that money than I could ever have hoped to. In fact,” Tony tapped on the StarkPad. “We’ve compiled a list of the positive things that have come out of Robin’s… charity work. Of course, these are only the stories we’ve been able to verify in the last week, there’s plenty more where that came from.”

Steve smiled as he glanced at the list. It really was quite impressive.

“Captain Rogers,” the lawyer spoke, turning away from the StarkPad. “You are credited as the leader of the Avengers, correct?”

“Yes,” Steve responded.

“Then why is Tony Stark leading this request instead of you?”

“I think it’s pretty clear that me leading this would be a conflict of interest.”

“Because of your relationship with Robin?”

“Exactly.”

“Would you say that your relationship makes you more likely to try and recruit her?”

Steve shifted in his seat. “I think you misunderstand me. It is a conflict of interest because I am passionately _against_ Robin joining the Avengers.”

A brief expression of surprise crossed the lawyers face.

Steve smiled. “She’s been on one mission and she nearly died. You think I want her going anywhere near that world again? Hell no. I want her safe.”

“You would prefer that she was kept in prison?”

“No, I’d prefer that you released her and she didn’t become an Avenger.”

“If that’s the case,” the lawyer started, than why are you here?”

“You asked me to come,” Steve smiled. “Also, as much as I hate to admit it, the outcome of that mission proves that she would be a valuable asset to the team. If I wasn't involved with her, I’d be trying as hard as Tony to get her on the team. I can’t do that, however, because it would compromise her safety and I care about her far to much. So I thought it would be best to step back and let Tony take the lead on this one.”

The lawyer sat back in his chair, considering this. “Do you have any other evidence that she should be an Avenger?”

“I’m sorry, are the seven safely deactivated bombs not enough for you?” Tony asked.

The lawyer sighed. “Look, I think you have genuinely good reasons for wanting her on your team. I really do. But this woman stole nearly fifteen billion dollars. That can’t go unpunished. And if we released her to become an Avenger then it would set a precedent that we can’t live up to. We can’t have every thief in the country believing that if they get caught they can just become an Avenger.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Tony smiled, “We’ll only take the good ones.”

“And what about worse crimes? What if you decided you wanted murderers or…”

“Nah, we don’t need murderers. Already got some, thanks,” Tony grinned. “Reformed, of course.”

“Look,” the Judge leant forward, joining the conversation for the first time. “I don’t think this is a question of the good Robin could do as an Avenger. Clearly the both of you believe she would be a valuable asset to the team. But it does set a dangerous precedent. She already has a diminished sentence due to her co-operation and the plea deal, I think you should both be happy with that.”

“So, just to confirm,” Tony spoke. “You will not release her?”

“The laws regarding theft are very clear. She stole the money, she has to do the time. And I refuse to be the judge who sets a precedent which could allow others to get out of their own sentences. The original sentence stands.”

“Well then,” Tony stood up, “Thank you for your time.”

Steve shook both of their hands before following Tony out the door. “So,” he muttered under his breath as he made his way through the courthouse. “Plan C?”

“Plan C,” Tony agreed.

* * *

The Avengers were already gathered in the meeting room when Steve and Tony returned to the tower. 

“You guys made a great argument,” Nat said as they entered. “I’m sorry it turned out that way.”

“I’m not,” Steve spoke. “They were just doing their jobs. And honestly, I kind of hoped we’d get to this.”

“This?” Bruce questioned. 

“Steve and I came up with a plan C before the meeting,” Tony explained.

“Is it a plan in which Robin does the time?” Clint asked.

“No, that’s plan D,” Steve replied. “Plan C is much more fun.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony spoke. “Please turn off all communication or recording devices. The following conversation can’t leave this room. Which means I’m going to need you to temporarily power down. Give us an hour.”

“Yes, boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. agreed.

“Right,” Tony spoke. “Anybody who’s not comfortable with breaking the law, leave now.”

They waited a moment, and when nobody moved, Tony continued. “Bucky, what have you got for us?”

Bucky grinned, placing a roll of paper on the table in front of Steve. “Blueprints. You don’t want to know what I had to do to get them, either.”

Steve smirked and started to slowly unroll the papers.

“So, Cap,” Tony smiled. “How do we break your girl out of prison?”


	16. Chapter 16

You lay on the bed in your cell, a large pile of what could only be described as fan mail next to you. Seriously, what the hell was Steve doing out there to get you all of this attention?

Still, you didn’t really mind. Prison was boring, and you rather enjoyed the first hand accounts of the difference you had made before being caught. You were reading a letter from a young girl who you had basically put through school when someone honest to god knocked on the bars of your cell. You looked up to see a guard.

“Visitor,” he spoke.

You stood up, tossed the letter onto your bed and followed the guard to the visiting room. 

“There are a lot of rumours going around about you,” he spoke. “I didn’t believe any of them until five minutes ago.”

“Oh really? What rumours.”

“Rumours that you’re Steve Rogers’ wife.”

You raised your eyebrows. You knew that things got exaggerated in the rumour mill, but _damn_. “And what would make you believe that rumour?”

“Him,” the guard spoke, pointing to where Steve was waiting for you in the visiting room.

The guard left you with a small smile on your face, and you quickly moved to wrap your arms around Steve. 

“Hey there, little bird,” Steve smiled as he locked his arms around your waist. 

“You really shouldn’t be here,” you responded. 

“Too bad,” he replied. He gave you a squeeze before releasing you from the hug. God damn prison regulations kept you from holding onto him any longer.

“Prison outfit looks good on you,” he sat down across from you as you moved to sit on the stool provided. 

“Liar,” you retorted.

Steve smiled. “Really, though, how have you been?”

“I’m fine, Steve. I mean, it’s more boring being in here than working at a cafe, but I get by. I can still train in the yard, they’ve got me working. I get fan mail now. Wanna tell me what that’s about?”

Steve shrugged. “We kinda made a big deal out of you going to prison. Our kiss is still trending, Tony made a speech about you giving up your freedom for us, and your fans - you have quite a lot, by the way - have been going crazy online.”

“Huh.”

“Then we had a public meeting with a couple of legal representatives, we put up a fantastic argument for releasing you from prison, they denied us, and now you’re the centre of a huge internet debate because most people think you should be living with us in Avengers Tower right now.” He tilted his head to the side. “There are also some people who are trying to get the entire team arrested, but…” he smirked. “I’d like to see them try.”

You chuckled. “They won’t arrest you, you're too important.”

“You’re important, but you’re still here. They locked you up with a bunch of criminals.” 

“I am a criminal,” you pointed out.

“Yeah, but you’re not violent. When you got convicted I didn’t think they’d place you in high security. You’re just a thief.”

You smiled. “If I wanted low security I would have stolen less money.”

Steve chuckled. “Still, you've been thrown in with some of societies worst. Here's the point though; I have tried to deal with this situation legally, but the legal system is dumb and I’m done playing by the rules.”

“Steve,” you warned. “Do not do anything stupid.”

“I haven’t done anything,” he said. “Well, not yet. Although…” he lowered his voice, “I kind of did tell the guards that we were married.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because it was the only way they’d let me give you this.” He placed a ring on the table. “They have pretty strict rules about what prisoners are allowed.”

You looked from the ring to him. “You want to bring me a piece of jewellery, so instead of a cross or a star of David or any religious article, you go with _let’s pretend to be married?_ ” you whispered the last words.

“Don’t look at me, alright? It’s Tony’s design,” Steve smiled. “And I told him that we could just get you a religious item about eight times, I’m convinced that he was choosing not to listen.”

You looked at the ring, then back to Steve as you began to understand exactly what that piece of jewellery was. “Oh no. Steve, don’t.”

“Don’t what?” he asked, eyes sparkling. “Ruin my image? Already did that. It was fun.”

You rolled your eyes. “They already dropped my sentence to fifteen years and with some good behaviour I could be out of here earlier. I’m not letting you ruin your career for me.”

“If you had the technology, and I had nothing to do with this, would you still be in this prison?”

You sighed. “Hell no. But I don’t have the tech, and you are involved, so I figured I’d just do the time.”

“Screw that. Let me help. Being America’s golden boy is getting old, anyway.”

“I can’t just let you ruin everything you stand for, Steve.”

“I stand for freedom,” he grinned. 

“Yes, meaning the freedom of the people, not freeing prisoners from cells,” you hissed. “Why are you so excited about this?”

“You saw Tony’s reaction when he found out I’ve been helping you cause trouble. Imagine the _government’s_ reaction.” He spoke with a mischievous smile that made you feel giddy. This man was going to get you into a lot of trouble if you let him. And you wanted to let him, you really did, but it wasn’t yourself that you were worried about.

“You will be charged as an accomplice at least,” you argued. 

“Yep, I figured. I’ll just have to put the shield away for a little while.”

“You could never stop being a hero, Steve, it’s quite literally in your blood.”

“I could take a break. Then, inevitably, there will be some huge disaster and they’ll want Captain America back, so they’ll drop the charges. Against both of us, if we play our cards right.”

“You wouldn’t last a year.”

He smiled. “Probably true, but I could try. Look, you don’t have to go through with it. If you decide you want to do the time and get this behind you, then I’ll support that. But I think you want out of here more than you let on.”

Well you couldn’t deny that. You looked at the ring, and then back to him. “Exactly how do you propose I convince everyone that you’re my husband?”

“You don’t. Only the guards know, and they’ve promised not to tell anyone else. I just told them that our marriage was secret to protect you from our enemies. You wouldn’t be the first.”

You hesitated. “Seriously? Do you all have secret wives no one knows about? You don’t have something to tell me, do you?”

Steve chuckled. “No. There’s only one secret wife. Well, only one that I know about anyway.”

“Okay, then how did you convince the guards that you weren’t making this up?”

“Natasha may or may not have faked a marriage certificate.”

“Exactly how many people are in on this plan of yours?”

Steve smirked. “Only me, Tony, Nat, Clint, Sam, Bucky and Bruce.”

You blinked. “Only? Steve, when you’re planning stuff like this you’re meant to keep the list of accomplices as small as possible.”

“Fifteen years is a long time,” he replied. “None of us want to see you have to wait that long. Just take this,” he said, pushing it towards you. “You can decide what you want to do later.”

You sighed and picked up the ring, sliding it into your pocket. “You really are a little shit, you know.”

Steve grinned.

“Oh, don’t look so proud of yourself,” you couldn’t help but smile as you spoke. “Hold on, if we’re married, then where’s your ring?”

Steve tugged at a chain at his neck, revealing a simple wedding band. 

“Tony made you one too?”

Steve snorted. “No. Apparently he likes you, so you get a custom ring. He’s still mad at me, so I get one Sam found in a costume store.”

You chuckled. “Okay, if we do go through with this, then what then? We just stay in hiding until your huge disaster?”

“Basically, yeah. I was thinking we could travel.”

“With what passports?”

“You think we couldn't come up with a couple of fake IDs?.”

You sighed, “And if your disaster never comes?”

Steve shrugged, an amused smile on his face. “Come on, you know you want to do it. Help me make the authorities look like absolute idiots.”

And to think Steve once thought _you_ were going to be a bad influence on _him_. You smiled, some of his excitement flowing over to you. “Alright then. I’ll consider it.”

“It’s all I ask,” Steve grinned.

A buzzing noise reminded you that your visiting time was nearly up. You stood, and Steve pulled you back into his arms. “Whatever you decide, I’m with you,” he whispered before pressing a brief kiss to your lips . “But please let me break you out,” he added as an afterthought.

You laughed. “No promises,” you spoke with a smile. You turned away from him, walking back towards your cell.

* * *

You lay back on your bed that night, thanking whoever made it so that you didn’t have a cell mate yet. Actually, you wouldn’t put it past Steve and Tony to have paid someone off to make that happen. 

You flipped the ring in your fingers. If only you could work out how to turn this thing on. You ran your fingers over the surface of the ring, searching for any sort of imperfection. You noticed that a section of the inside of the ring was rougher than the other surfaces, so decided to focus on that, sliding a finger across the area.

You smiled as the ring projected a holographic StarkPad. Oh, that man was good. He should put more time into jewellery and less into security systems. (Although, realistically, his security systems were pretty good. You were just better.)

The StarkPad was already loaded with blueprints for the prison, detailed information regarding their security systems, several hacking programs, a date and timeframe, and a note you presumed was from Steve. _If you can get yourself to the chapel, I can get you the rest of the way._

You glanced over the blueprints and noticed how easy that would be now that you had the technology. Steve had planned an entire prison break using his knowledge of how you made your way around Avengers Tower. 

You blinked in surprise when a new message popped up. 

**Steve:** _What do you say? Shall we team up one last time and show the American government just how bad their security systems are?_

You smiled as you typed your response.

**You:** _Maybe we should suggest they talk to Tony. These systems have nothing on Avengers Tower. Are you using a StarkPad right now?_

**Steve:** _I read the book. So… am I helping you break out of prison?_

You considered the question for a moment. Yeah, that man was definitely going to get you into trouble. Probably a lot of it, too. You smiled as you typed back. 

**You:** _Hell yeah, you are. I'll see you soon._


	17. Chapter 17

You couldn’t help feeling giddy when the day finally came.

Ever since you had agreed to Steve’s plan, the prison walls had started to feel as though they were closing in on you. You couldn’t wait to be outside them - in Steve’s arms, if at all possible. You had been spending the last week working on the hacking programs you would need for your escape when everyone else was sleeping, and had recorded guard’s rounds while you did so. You were ready. 

Prison life had a pretty standard routine, and you followed it mindlessly, impatiently awaiting bedtime. And when you were locked in your cell, lying in the bed, you still had to wait for a few hours, which left you rolling around restlessly under the covers. 

Finally, the time was drawing near, and you couldn’t help the small smile as you made your bed and wrote a polite note. 

_I just wanted to apologise for my sudden disappearance. I had every intention of serving my time when I was put here, but this place is boring and your security systems suck. Once you’ve given up on looking for me, perhaps have a chat with Tony Stark. I recently helped him upgrade his own security, so he should be able to help stop this from happening again. Have a lovely day._

Happy with your work, you placed the note on your pillow and activated your ring. You usually tried to avoid going wireless when hacking security systems, but that wasn’t an option this time. Instead, you hacked into the wifi and hoped that it was stable enough to run the programs you were going to need. Once you were in, you headed straight to the prison’s security interface.

You had seen a lot of questionable security systems in your life, but the fact that there was a single screen which the guards used to open any cell doors? That one had surprised you. Still, it was definitely helpful. You tapped on the graphic of your cell, hit unlock, and watched with amusement as your cell door opened. You quickly stepped out, closed the door and deleted the history before you started sneaking through the cell block.

As you went, you hacked each camera you came across and made sure they were temporarily running a loop before making your way past them. You had to admit, after dealing with F.R.I.D.A.Y. for so long, hacking security cameras felt like going back to primary school. You marvelled at how easy this really was. You sincerely hoped that the prison system took you up on your suggestion and spoke to Tony.

You had to duck into an alcove for a moment to avoid a guard, but were then back on your way to the Chapel. Once you arrived, you relaxed a little. There was no reason for any guards to come here, so you didn't need to sneak anymore. Instead, you continued hacking, making sure the cameras outside weren’t going to record anything unusual.

When you were done, you sent a quick message off to Steve. _You’re all clear._

You glanced around the chapel while you waited. It was a simple thing, really, about what you’d expect in a prison. The only form of decoration was a stained glass window at the very top of the roof, high enough that the prisoner’s wouldn’t be able to reach it. 

You were admiring the way the stars shined through the window, causing it to sparkle slightly, when Steve suddenly crashed through it.

You took a step back, blinking in surprise as Steve casually landed on the ground in front of you as though jumping though a window and dropping ten feet into a prison chapel was a perfectly normal thing to do. He grinned at you, tugging on the rope that he had brought down with him to make sure it was secure.

“Wow, Steve,” you muttered. “Did you want to try that again? I don’t think it was nearly dramatic enough.”

He just grinned, leaving the rope to move towards you.

“No really, you didn’t wake up the entire prison. That was the the intention, wasn’t it?”

He chuckled and pulled you to him, pressing his lips to yours. You instantly melted into him - it had been far too long since you’d been able to kiss him like this.

Steve pulled back with a smile. “If I’m gonna break someone out of prison, I’m at least going to do it well.”

“You and I have very different ideas of what a good break-out looks is.”

He chuckled and kissed you again. “We probably should get out of here just in case someone noticed.”

“Yeah, good plan.”

“Can you climb that or do you need help?” he asked, pointing behind him to where the rope dangled from the top of what was once stained glass window.

“I can climb a tower, you think I can’t handle a rope?”

He shrugged. “We need to get on top of the roof.”

“Easy,” you said with a smile. You squeezed his arm before making your way to the rope and starting your climb. Once you reached the top of the window, you gripped a brick and pulled yourself up, continuing your way up the side of the building. Steve caught up quickly and grinned as he overtook you, climbing faster than you could ever hope to. 

“Showoff,” you muttered, glancing at where he was now untying the rope.

“You coming?” he asked, looking down at you with a smirk.

You shook your head at him and continued your climb to join him on the roof, crouching next to Steve. You glanced around, noting the security towers and guards. You could see why Steve had chosen the chapel now. You were hidden in shadows, the guards looking in other directions for the majority of the time. You kept watch while Steve finished untying the rope and coiled it into a circle which he slung over his shoulder. 

“Ready?” Steve whispered

You nodded, and followed him across the roof of the chapel to the edge, where you could see the walls surrounding the prison maybe fifteen feet away.

“Uh, Steve,” you started. “I don’t think your rope’s long enough for that.”

“Who said I planned on using the rope?”

You glanced at him. “Then why did you take it?”

“Because it’s going to be much funnier if the only sign of your escape is a broken window,” he smirked.

You giggled. “I left them a note. Suggested they speak to Tony about upgrading their security systems.”

Steve laughed in response.

“So, how are we getting out of here?” you asked.

The smirk returned. “You trust me, right?”

“Oh my god. I’m going to end up one of those failed prison escape stories where the prisoner breaks both legs trying to get over the wall, aren’t I?”

“Have a little faith,” he spoke. “You climb towers, I jump long distances.”

“ _You_ jump long distances,” you retorted. “I do not.”

“Well, lucky for you, I’m also fairly strong,” he smiled and scooped you into his arms, causing you to giggle in surprise and wrap your arms around his neck. “You ready?”

“No,” you replied.

“Well, too bad, because the guards are going to be coming past here any moment.”

He took a few steps back, and you pressed your face into his chest as he took a run up and leapt off the building. 

It was likely only a few seconds, but it felt like a lifetime before you landed. You hesitated before pulling your head back and glancing around. You froze when you noticed the prison guard who was currently staring at the two of you with wide eyes.

“See, told you it’d be fine,” Steve said.

“Sure, Steve,” you spoke, eyes focused on the guard.

“No problems,” he continued.

“Sure, Steve.”

“Really, I thought that would be harder. No guards or anything.”

“Sure, Steve. You gonna put me down?”

“Oh, right,” he dropped you to the ground. “But really, I thought we might come across-”

“A prison guard?” you asked Steve. You looked at the guard and raised your voice slightly. “Are you having a nice evening?”

Steve looked in the direction you were facing. “Oh. Well that’s awkward.”

The guard glanced between the two of you. “You know what? I didn’t see a thing,” he decided, turning around to walk away from you.

Steve’s lips quirked upwards into an amused smile. “Thank you,” he replied as the guard left. 

“What the…” you started.

“I told you,” Steve smiled. “There’s a lot of people who want you out of prison.”

“I know you said that but… wow.”

Steve smiled. “Come on, we’ve got a quick stop to make before we get our ride.”

* * *

“Someone order an escape vehicle?” Clint poked his head out of the small jet sitting near the prison in stealth mode. He greeted you with a wave.

Steve took your hand as the two of you boarded the jet. Once you were both on board, Clint took a seat in front of the controls and started flicking switches and pressing buttons. Soon after, you were taking off.

Steve sat you down on a seat and sat next to you before he grabbed a folder from the seat in front of him. “We’ve got, passports, driver’s licenses, back accounts. Everything we need to disappear completely.”

You raised your eyebrows. “How are you sure no one else is going to be under suspicion for this?” 

“Tony’s currently throwing a goodbye party for Avenger’s Tower,” Steve explained. “They’re officially moving into the compound next week. He invited a couple of government officials who will confirm that none of the Avengers are involved except for Nat and Clint, who are currently on a mission in Peru.”

“Then where’s Nat?”

“Peru,” Clint called back to you. “Probably taking care of the entire mission before I get back.”

“As far as the authorities are concerned, I’m the only person who could have been involved. When we land, Nat’s gonna edit the flight records so that it will look like the jet never left while she was there. So Clint’s gonna drop us off in Peru, and then we’re free to go wherever we want. Providing that’s what you want, of course.”

You smiled. This man had given up everything for you, broken you out of prison, and was now willing to go on the run with you. How could you deny him anything right now? You leant forward to brush your lips against his. “What did I do to deserve you?” you muttered.

“Donated 14.7 billion dollars to charity,” he responded with a smile. 

You smiled back. That… probably didn’t quite count as a good deed, but whatever. You’d take it.

“You’re world famous,” you mused, “How are you going to make sure no one can recognise you?”

“Oh, he’s got a plan for that,” Clint replied from the pilot’s seat with a laugh. “Go on, Steve, tell her your plan.”

Steve grinned. “I’m gonna grow a beard.”

You laughed. “That’s your plan? You think you can just grow a beard and no one will notice you?”

He shrugged. “It can’t hurt. And I have a feeling that most people won’t say anything if they do notice us. A bit like our friend from earlier. People really do want you out of prison, you know.”

“Right.”

“Right,” Steve smiled. “Nat packed some clothes for you - there’s a bag under your seat. She said something about other essentials as well.”

You leant forward to pull out the bag and unzip it, rummaging through the clothing items before you picked up a couple of different boxes of hair dye. “Essentials?” you questioned.

“I think that’s probably what she considers a disguise.”

You looked back at the boxes. “That’s actually not such a bad idea. For you too, unless you can grow a beard in however long it’s going to take us to get to Peru.”

“Alright, let’s do it.”

The two of you spent the next few hours transforming - changing both clothes and hair colour before you found yourselves on the streets of Peru.

“Tony said to keep the ring,” Clint told you as the three of you left the jet. “That way we can contact you if we need to. You know, in case of alien invasions or the end of the world. That sort of thing.”

“Of course,” Steve said. “You guys send us the word, I’ll be there. I don’t care who’s going to try and lock me up.”

Clint nodded. “We know. And if you run into any problems, just let us know. You two stay safe, alright?”

“Sounds boring,” you replied, “But we’ll try.”

Clint laughed and pulled each of you into a quick hug before he left to find Natasha. “Don’t get into too much trouble,” he called over his shoulder as he left.

“No promises,” you muttered.

Steve chuckled.

Once Clint had left to find Natasha and complete their mission, Steve turned to you and rested his hands on your waist. “So,” he began, “No missions, no A.I.M., no robberies and no prison,” he grinned. “What do you want to do with our first day of freedom?”

“Well,” you stepped forward, wrapping your arms around Steve’s neck. “We could get us a hotel room and finally get some alone time,” you suggested. Between sneaking around the Tower, Steve going on missions, having the Avengers around all the time when you were recovering and getting thrown in prison, you really hadn’t been able to spend much time with just the two of you lately.

“Oh? I like the sound of that,” Steve murmured.

“Or,” you stepped back slightly and moved your hands so they sat lightly on his shoulders. “We could go get a postcard from Machu Picchu and send it to whoever gets assigned to track us down.”

Steve laughed. “Okay, we have to do that. And make sure we leave before they get here so that we can lead them on a global wild goose chase.”

“Yeah, I thought that went without saying,” you grinned.

“Which way is Machu Picchu?” Steve asked.

“How should I know?” you responded. “Don’t you have a photographic memory? Shouldn’t you have a map stored in that head of yours?”

“That only works if I’ve seen the map,” Steve smiled. “Which I haven’t.”

“Seems like it would have been a smart thing to look at if you were planning to break a girl out of prison and whisk her away to Peru.”

“Probably,” he agreed. He turned to point behind him. “Shall we just go this way?”

You shrugged. “Why not?”

Steve smiled and took your hand in his as you started walking through the street. “By the way,” he murmured. “I love you.”

You smiled, squeezing his hand. “I love you too.”

* * *

“And that’s when I realised that it had been Steve the whole time!” Tony announced to the large group gathered on the couch. “He’d been letting her in, making sure none of us saw her and telling her about every single security measure I installed. Bastard was playing us and we had no idea.”

He smiled sleepily at the laughter around him. The party had raged through the night and well into the next morning. He was still entertaining the Avengers and a few extras - all of whom would be able to verify that no one in this room had been anywhere near the prison the night before.

“The look on your face was absolutely priceless,” Sam told him. “I would pay so much money to see that again.”

“Who needs to pay?” Bucky asked with a smirk. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., can you show us the recording of Tony’s face when he found out Steve was the traitor?”

The recording appeared on a screen behind him, and the group laughed at the look on his face. “What the hell?” Tony asked. “How did…”

“Steve asked her to record it weeks before you found out,” Bucky replied, drawing even more laughter from the group.

“Oh, that little…” Tony started.

“Where is Steve, anyway?” Maria asked. “I wanted to quiz him on the whole ‘falling in love with a criminal’ thing.

Tony shrugged. “Anyone seen Steve?” he asked.

The question was met with shrugs and shaking heads.

“Huh.”

“Excuse me boss,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted. “Agent Nilson from the F.B.I. would like to see you.”

Tony perked up at that. _Finally_. “Of course, send her in.” A moment later, the woman in question entered the room. “Agent!” Tony spoke cheerfully. “Have you come to join the party? We probably should wrap it up soon, but…”

She looked around, taking in the scene in front of her. “Have you been here all night?”

“Yeah,” Tony confirmed. “Why? Is there a law against partying from dusk till… well, it’s kinda beyond dawn now.”

Agent Nilson cleared her throat. “Your friend Robin was missing from her prison cell this morning. All that was left was a note.”

A small smile appeared on his face, “Missing?” he questioned. “As in just gone? She broke out?”

“That appears to be the case.”

Tony’s smile widened as he took in the astonished look on the guest’s faces.

“Oh, damn,” Sam spoke with a grin. “I think I know where Steve’s been all night.”

“Surely he wouldn’t,” Maria spoke, glancing at the people around her. “Would he?” 

“He most certainly would,” Bucky chuckled. “The punk would do anything for someone he loves.”

“Wait, Captain Rogers isn’t with you?” Agent Nilson pressed.

“No one’s seen him all night,” Tony replied. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., when was Steve last in the building?”

“The traitorous scumbag left yesterday morning. He hasn’t been back since.”

Tony couldn’t help but smile at F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s new name for Steve. It was the little things in life.

“What about Barton and Romanov?” Agent Nilson asked.

“The’ve been on a mission in Peru for the last few days. They should be back in a couple of hours if you want to wait.”

“Actually, we’d like to ask all of you some questions. Separately, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, I’ll get the meeting room set up for you,” Tony smiled. “Won’t be a moment.”

He wandered in the elevator, grinning as he made his way to the meeting room. They had actually pulled it off. All they had to do now was convince the F.B.I. that the other Avengers had nothing to do with it. Which, really, shouldn’t be that hard. He hummed happily to himself as he pulled open the door to the meeting room - and stopped. 

Sitting in the middle of the table was a store-bought thank you card. Which he knew for certain hadn’t been there yesterday. It couldn’t be…

Tony slowly entered the room and reached out to open the card. The handwriting inside confirmed his suspicions. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., you said Steve hasn’t been here since yesterday.”

“He hasn’t,” the A.I. replied. “There is no record of the traitorous scumbag entering the building.”

Of course there wasn’t. A smile tugged at Tony’s lips as he put the pieces together. Somehow, between breaking out of prison and flying to Peru, they had managed to take down his security systems, deactivate the alarms, drop off a thank you card and convince F.R.I.D.A.Y. that they’d never been here. And they’d probably used the ring he designed to do it, too. 

Tony couldn’t help breaking out into a grin. “Those mischievous little shits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that's it! 
> 
> I wanted to thank all of you for sticking with me through this story and for all of the kudos & comments you have left. I honestly adore every single one of them and am so glad that you have been enjoying this story so much. It really does mean the world to me. 
> 
> When I first started writing this I intended to leave it here so that it could lead into Infinity War and rejoin the canon, but as it turns out, I'm so not ready to be done with these two - I have been having way too much fun writing this. So I'm gonna disappear, and providing I can get a story together (I have rules about posting things before I've at least got a draft of the whole story), you may well see me again soon... 
> 
> So thank you all so much for all your love and support, and, of course, for believing that Steve is secretly a little shit just as much as I do!


End file.
